plight of a laker fan
for most of the day, i was thinking at the back of my mind, trying to console myself with the laker loss to the celtics in game 6 of the nba finals. as a laker fan for around 14 years, honestly, this seemed to be the most painful of all. in the process, i asked myself how did we got here?
the laker season started horribly. kobe demanded a trade during summer and berated their young center, andrew bynum. there wasn't optimism and enthusiasm in the laker camp, save for the reacquisition of derek fisher. the lack of desire was seen in the opener, as the lakers were defeated by the houston rockets
in november, i too, was wanting to see kobe traded to the bulls. a kobe-deng pairing seemed interesting enough to sell to me.
and then a silver lining appeared. with kwame brown injured, the lakers started bynum to much success. seemingly triggered by kobe's rantings during the pre-season, bynum started being aggressive, and with his size, he barraged to opponents frontlines seamlessly. he had a decent post up game, finished strong at the rim, and used his size to position well on rebounds. he was good that kobe started trusting him and the other lakers.
one play that i could remember that opponents couldnt stop was kobe and bynum's pick and roll play. it was either kobe was gonna pull up for a jumper, or he'll lob it to bynum for a dunk.
his impressive promise was capped off with a 25 point, 17 rebound effort in january. all of a sudden, the lakers were from 1st round pushovers to possible 4-5th seeds. things in lakerland were good. until the injury...
as a laker fan. you know was coming, the lakers were going to fall short in the season, and the lakers would have been forced to trade kobe. and indeed, it shaped up that way, as the lakers racked up in the losing column.
then, on one faithful february early morning, while at work, i checked the espn website, which for some inexplicable reason, fell out of my routine that day. i could still remember the headline at their website: "lakers get gasol"
i still had to reread the line over and over just to see if the wee hours of the night are playing with me. i also resisted to jump up and down and yell in our dark and empty workplace. i then clicked on the link to see who we traded. i was already expecting to lose either bynum, odom, or both, but to my surprise it was kwame brown.
with no one to discuss it with, i texted my close friends about the news. a friend replied that it looks like we'll be seeing the lakers and the celtics in the finals...
there was pure euphoria in lakerland, even if we didn't even see gasol in a purple and gold uniform just yet. and we finally did, he gave us what we expected from him as he, along with kobe bryant, destroyed the new jersey nets.
he did come down with an injury a few weeks later, but he returned just in time to close out the season strong, and enter the playoffs as the number 1 seed.
my expectations for them were pretty high. odom was relishing his role as the number three guy, and built exceptional chemistry with gasol. the season also revealed kobe being the best teammate in his whole career. and the bench was living up to being tagged as the "mob."
indeed the lakers showed their resiliency during the first 3 rounds, sweeping the nuggets, schooled the jazz, and finally dealt with the defending champion spurs. sports experts said that without bynum, the lakers still wouldn't get far in the playoffs, but there they were in the finals.
ironically, majority of these experts picked the lakers to win the title against the celtics. while the lakers breezed through the previous rounds, the celtics were almost defeated by the hawks (the hawks for christ's sake), and lebron and the lebronairres. they did get their act together against the tough pistons to enter the finals.
this is where things went awry. it's still hard for me to recall the recent games, so you could just refer to my liveblogs during some of the games
i'm devastated. there were a lot of reasons why the lakers lost, but still i can't help but wonder why it happened. after the rollercoaster ride that we had to take during the season, it seemed like we were supposed to be the champions, like it was meant to be. because of how the team improved this season, i have been passionately every laker game, just as i was screaming when horry made the buzzer beating three against the kings years ago.
of course the celtics have their own cinderella story, but it just seemed wrong. i've read some writers blame phil being outcoached, and i would agree on that to a degree. but does anyone think that the lakers would be in the finals if phil wasn't here?
where do we go from here as laker fans? there is a lot of optimism with the return of bynum, but what's the assurance the lakers would still succeed in next year's playoffs. what if they battle the 2009 version of the golden state warriors. you never know.
unfortunately, the much hyped boston-lakers rivalry brought a lot of casual fans, who now think that the lakers are pushovers. how i want to prove to them that the lakers are more than that. i can't wait for november to start, when with a full lineup, where kobe and the lakers have to redeem themselves rather unfairly
the laker season started horribly. kobe demanded a trade during summer and berated their young center, andrew bynum. there wasn't optimism and enthusiasm in the laker camp, save for the reacquisition of derek fisher. the lack of desire was seen in the opener, as the lakers were defeated by the houston rockets
in november, i too, was wanting to see kobe traded to the bulls. a kobe-deng pairing seemed interesting enough to sell to me.
and then a silver lining appeared. with kwame brown injured, the lakers started bynum to much success. seemingly triggered by kobe's rantings during the pre-season, bynum started being aggressive, and with his size, he barraged to opponents frontlines seamlessly. he had a decent post up game, finished strong at the rim, and used his size to position well on rebounds. he was good that kobe started trusting him and the other lakers.
one play that i could remember that opponents couldnt stop was kobe and bynum's pick and roll play. it was either kobe was gonna pull up for a jumper, or he'll lob it to bynum for a dunk.
his impressive promise was capped off with a 25 point, 17 rebound effort in january. all of a sudden, the lakers were from 1st round pushovers to possible 4-5th seeds. things in lakerland were good. until the injury...
as a laker fan. you know was coming, the lakers were going to fall short in the season, and the lakers would have been forced to trade kobe. and indeed, it shaped up that way, as the lakers racked up in the losing column.
then, on one faithful february early morning, while at work, i checked the espn website, which for some inexplicable reason, fell out of my routine that day. i could still remember the headline at their website: "lakers get gasol"
i still had to reread the line over and over just to see if the wee hours of the night are playing with me. i also resisted to jump up and down and yell in our dark and empty workplace. i then clicked on the link to see who we traded. i was already expecting to lose either bynum, odom, or both, but to my surprise it was kwame brown.
with no one to discuss it with, i texted my close friends about the news. a friend replied that it looks like we'll be seeing the lakers and the celtics in the finals...
there was pure euphoria in lakerland, even if we didn't even see gasol in a purple and gold uniform just yet. and we finally did, he gave us what we expected from him as he, along with kobe bryant, destroyed the new jersey nets.
he did come down with an injury a few weeks later, but he returned just in time to close out the season strong, and enter the playoffs as the number 1 seed.
my expectations for them were pretty high. odom was relishing his role as the number three guy, and built exceptional chemistry with gasol. the season also revealed kobe being the best teammate in his whole career. and the bench was living up to being tagged as the "mob."
indeed the lakers showed their resiliency during the first 3 rounds, sweeping the nuggets, schooled the jazz, and finally dealt with the defending champion spurs. sports experts said that without bynum, the lakers still wouldn't get far in the playoffs, but there they were in the finals.
ironically, majority of these experts picked the lakers to win the title against the celtics. while the lakers breezed through the previous rounds, the celtics were almost defeated by the hawks (the hawks for christ's sake), and lebron and the lebronairres. they did get their act together against the tough pistons to enter the finals.
this is where things went awry. it's still hard for me to recall the recent games, so you could just refer to my liveblogs during some of the games
i'm devastated. there were a lot of reasons why the lakers lost, but still i can't help but wonder why it happened. after the rollercoaster ride that we had to take during the season, it seemed like we were supposed to be the champions, like it was meant to be. because of how the team improved this season, i have been passionately every laker game, just as i was screaming when horry made the buzzer beating three against the kings years ago.
of course the celtics have their own cinderella story, but it just seemed wrong. i've read some writers blame phil being outcoached, and i would agree on that to a degree. but does anyone think that the lakers would be in the finals if phil wasn't here?
where do we go from here as laker fans? there is a lot of optimism with the return of bynum, but what's the assurance the lakers would still succeed in next year's playoffs. what if they battle the 2009 version of the golden state warriors. you never know.
unfortunately, the much hyped boston-lakers rivalry brought a lot of casual fans, who now think that the lakers are pushovers. how i want to prove to them that the lakers are more than that. i can't wait for november to start, when with a full lineup, where kobe and the lakers have to redeem themselves rather unfairly