Halftime Hype

After a tumultuous 0-8 preseason, Los Angeles Lakers fans, myself included, were ready for the "real deal." The preseason has minimal bearing on the season anyway, so there was absolutely no need to worry. Or so we thought. A season opener that was hyped to be a grand exhibition of invincibility quickly turned into sobering shellacking.

All the offseason chatter about a potential 82-0 record now seems even more foolish. Tthere will always be an adjustment period when a new team is assembled. With that said, last night's Lakers' performance was simply embarassing. While there's no doubt in my mind that Dwight Howard is currently a better center than Andrew Bynum, his free-throw percentage is nowhere near that of Bynum. As a team the Lakers may have missed 12 of their 31 free throws, but 11 of those misses came from D12. Fouling out only made Howard's debut that much worse.

Perhaps of greater concern is Steve Nash's lackluster performance. The two-time Most Valuable Player was outplayed by the Dallas Mavericks' Darren Collison, who eclipsed Nash with 17 points and 3 steals. Nash barely made a blip on the stat sheet, going 3-9 from the field for a total of 7 points and 4 assists. In order for the Lakers team to succeed, the Princeton Offense either needs to be reconsidered or Nash needs to pick things up quickly.

However, despite the disappointing Lakers performance, fans should worry too much - at least, not yet. Howard is still rounding into shape from back surgery, although his free throw percentage may take awhile to improve. Nash has the Herculean task of learning an entirely new offense in a short period of time. Hopefully, the team will begin to gel by Christmas Day because performances like that of last night will not only drive them away from the NBA Finals, but from the playoffs.