Hard Loss for the Wizards (or Maybe Just Me)
There are blowouts, where you just have to acknowledge that the opposition is better than you...by a light year.
There are buzzer-beaters, which can come down to a missed defensive assignment, a superior one-on-one opponent, or just plain luck.
Then there games like last night, where you're watching and hoping that your team can deliver the knock-out punch...but it just doesn't happen. Your team's punch aren't hard enough, and the opposition doesn't have a glass jaw. While everyone else was falling in love with the New Look Lakers, I was trying to figure out why people were swooning over a jump-shooting team that just happens to have Kobe Bryant. I mean, these guys run the Triangle Offense about half as often as they did during the Kobe & Shaq Era, and that's saying something considering one year they had Karl Malone and Gary Payton on the roster.
The difference, of course, is that these guys don't have a glass jaw, meaning that the typical reasons a good team cracks (key player who routinely chokes, crappy bench, too many old/young guys, brainless coach) don't apply to this particular squad. They are just good enough to coast if Kobe misses a game or three, but just mediocre enough to acquiesce to him when he's hot (or when he's in Give-Me-The-Damn-Ball Phase). They even have the best kind of fan base: the type who cheer like they're watching gladiators duel win you're wining, and then just don't show up (as opposed to coming there and booing) when you're losing.
Their biggest weakness is Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol; neither have been Big Game Guys. So it's safe to say that while the Lakers don't have a glass jaw, they may have a ceramic one. But with Phil Jackson, Kobe, and a good mix of youth and experience, that ceramic is pretty damn tough (and at the same time, sorta humble).
It also helps that Sasha Vujacic was open like a Vegas casino all night, but I digress...
I hope the Wizards were taking notes, because these are the types of games real playoff-caliber teams win.
There are buzzer-beaters, which can come down to a missed defensive assignment, a superior one-on-one opponent, or just plain luck.
Then there games like last night, where you're watching and hoping that your team can deliver the knock-out punch...but it just doesn't happen. Your team's punch aren't hard enough, and the opposition doesn't have a glass jaw. While everyone else was falling in love with the New Look Lakers, I was trying to figure out why people were swooning over a jump-shooting team that just happens to have Kobe Bryant. I mean, these guys run the Triangle Offense about half as often as they did during the Kobe & Shaq Era, and that's saying something considering one year they had Karl Malone and Gary Payton on the roster.
The difference, of course, is that these guys don't have a glass jaw, meaning that the typical reasons a good team cracks (key player who routinely chokes, crappy bench, too many old/young guys, brainless coach) don't apply to this particular squad. They are just good enough to coast if Kobe misses a game or three, but just mediocre enough to acquiesce to him when he's hot (or when he's in Give-Me-The-Damn-Ball Phase). They even have the best kind of fan base: the type who cheer like they're watching gladiators duel win you're wining, and then just don't show up (as opposed to coming there and booing) when you're losing.
Their biggest weakness is Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol; neither have been Big Game Guys. So it's safe to say that while the Lakers don't have a glass jaw, they may have a ceramic one. But with Phil Jackson, Kobe, and a good mix of youth and experience, that ceramic is pretty damn tough (and at the same time, sorta humble).
It also helps that Sasha Vujacic was open like a Vegas casino all night, but I digress...
I hope the Wizards were taking notes, because these are the types of games real playoff-caliber teams win.
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