With two Lakers losses, one against the hometown rivals, the Clippers, and at the hostile Rose Garden against the Portland Trailblazers (technically, the Clippers game was a "road" game for the Lakers). The Lakers haven't loss consecutive games in quite some time and have been bailed out too many times by clutch performances from Kobe. The question on the minds of many fans is whether or not the Lakers are still the NBA's best.
According to their 28-8 record, the Lakers are still officially the most successful team in the NBA. There's no doubt the Lakers deserve credit for that. However, as analysts have been eager to point out, the squad hasn't proved itself on the road, especially in Portland, where they last won in 2005. Then again, the absences of Gasol and Artest have definitely taken a toll.
To be the best, though, you have to win against the other great teams in the league, as well as lesser opponents. The entire Lakers team came in to the Christmas Day matchup versus the Cavs with an unacceptable attitude. They downplayed the game simply because they weren't playing the Boston Celtics. Here's some news: The Cavs were third place in the Eastern Conference coming into Christmas Day - meaning they are still an elite team. On December 30, when I was on Correy Costelloe's Home Turf on December 30, merely 5 days after the horrible loss, the Cavs trailed Boston by only half a game for #1 in the East. At the moment, Cleveland is ahead of Boston by 1 game for best in the conference.
However, there's nothing that can be done to reverse what's already happened; rather, there are certain improvements that can be made to have a better future. Understand that no particular individual is at fault for the Lakers' few and rare shortcomings.
The coach of a team, equally as much as a point guard, directs a team's course of action. Phil Jackson, as intelligent and experienced as he is, still makes mistakes from time to time. He has declared he will be more active in the first halves of games to prevent the Lake Show from falling behind early. Well, it's about time!
I'm still in the process of wrapping my head around his Playboy incident, but there are 2 very distinct Bynums on the is hardwood. One Bynum, typically seen in Gasol's absence, exhibits his offensive savvy through an array of post-moves and drops steps, in addition to hustling on the defensive end, and grabbing rebounds. Another Bynum, usually present when Gasol is, has no inclination to grab rebounds, gets into foul trouble, and attempts forced shots, if he shoots at all.
A couple seasons ago, the Lakers' "bench mob" was renown around the league as skilled unit that could take over for the starters and not only maintain a lead, but extend it. Unfortunately, this is no longer true. The second five has failed to perform well on either end of the court. Offensively, they just can't get a rhythm going, which surprises me. Adam Morrison, as funny as he may look at times, is a great shooter. Shannon Brown can create a shot for himself and was known for his defensive skills during his tenure at Michigan State. Jordan Farmar has the quickness and range to be effective. Josh Powell is a sturdy forward down low, who is also capable of knocking down a mid-range shot. DJ Mbenga, who still needs to work on lowering his fouls, is a daunting center with the ability to alter every shot, if not get a hand on it. And Lamar Odom would be a starter on almost any other team in the league. It's just a matter of coming together and playing as a team.
Although there were certainly other elements involved in the Lakers' avoidable falls, I will remind everyone that they are still the best team in the NBA and remain three games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for the lead in the West. It's not that they're doing anything wrong, heck when you're 28-8 most criticism is considered nit-picking. It's just that the Lakers can be better.
