Posted:
#1
I would take the time to read this. I put a lot into this for the reader and if you read it, you will have a nice side on Sunday for someone who did all the research for you. All you have to do is read for the next 8-10 minutes.
The question is this:
Can you find enough reason to take the Lakers with this big a spread?
Record this year: 10-4 (with +ML's in there as well)
I say the answer is yes.
I posted the Lakers twice this season.
Once was when they were on a seven game losing and they went to Boston as 7 point dogs on 1/17. They won outright by 3. That was a winning post.
The other was against the Nets on Jason Collin's coming out night as three point dogs at home. They were coming off 9 point win against Boston, had no sense of urgency in the game and the distraction I thought the media would bring never came to fruition. Lesson learned. Back the Lakers when they are desperate or don't back them at all.
Are they desperate here?
Yes.
I know the season is lost. This isn't like the Knicks who are fighting for an eighth seed.
But this is a franchise, that, while everyone knows it is tank mode, must show some sense of pride and solid play for the legacy of the greats of yesteryear and their fanbase.
That was completely undone when the Clippers destroyed them for their worst loss in their history.
But you have to realize something about that game. The Clippers have played the red-headed stepchild against the Lakers for their entire existence. They actually lost to the Lakers on opening night after all the hoopla of the coaching change and signings and the series was tied at 1-1 on the season. They really have shifted gears of late and now look like they could possibly win the WCF if things really keep going their way. The Lakers are now mired in one of the worst seasons they ever had.
The Clippers appeared to be cognizant of this, played their best ball of the season, and the Lakers apparently had no answer for anything the Clippers did on that night.
It was the ultimate low for the proud franchise.
It was so low, the top Laker brass called in D'Antoni to review things and most likely, talk about his job status.
They were faced with a tough test the very next night. Go into the altitude in Denver, who just got their point guard back and are now mostly healthy (after a string of games where there were too many injuries to count), with the worst defeat ever hanging over them not even 24 hours prior. Remember, this is still a hungry Denver team who want to make something of their season after a terrible losing streak of 11 in 12. The Lakers were dead meat.
But were they?
They were getting +9/+11 (The number kept rising) and the books couldn't convince anyone to take them. What did they do with that number?
They lost all three quarters, and trailed by 19 after 3. And STILL after all that, after getting beaten up for 7 consecutive quarters, they still played their starters, cut the lead below double digits and were still fighting until the horn sounded. What did that result in? A Lakers cover as they lost by 8.
I don't care if you agree. They showed me a lot to fight back in that final quarter when they could have easily packed it in.
So now we have OKC and we are getting +11.5 if we back the Lakers.
Should we be afraid?
Well on 2/13 they played OKC and guess who was in their starting lineup:
Shawne Williams (gone from the team after a 10 day contract)
Chris Kaman (DNP in his last 4 games)
Steve Blake (Traded to Warriors)
Wesley Johnson
Kendall Marshall
So two of the 5 starters in that game are no longer with the team, and one was let go after a emergency signing of him in the first place (because of too many injuries!). Kaman no longer contributes.
What happened in that game? The desperate Lakers fought tooth and nail to avoid a record setting 7th straight home loss, lead almost the entire game and gave up the lead in the late fourth to lose by 4. They obviously got inside the 10.5 they were getting that night.
Folks that wasn't a Thunder team on the downturn either. They came into that Laker game having won FOURTEEN OF SIXTEEN and they were laying 10.5.
0
). 
nice write up hell I never thought id put money on the lakers this year but u just convinced me 
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