The NBA playoffs are underway and there are plenty of intriguing storylines, but one of the most fascinating has to be the Los Angeles Lakers’ quest for a third consecutive NBA title. The team remains mostly unchanged from last year, but you get the feeling that any team with Kobe Bryant on the floor and Phil Jackson on the bench would stand a good chance of winning the NBA Finals. Bryant has starred on five championship teams in his career while Jackson, who has stated that he will retire at the end of this season, has won 13 NBA titles overall, including an astounding 11 as a coach.
However, this season has seen plenty of rough patches for the Lakers, who have endured several losing streaks unbefitting a team with the quality, experience, composure and coaching of Los Angeles. Perhaps the lowest point of the season came when the Lakers lost to the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers, suffering not only the embarrassment of a three-game losing streak going into the All-Star break, but also a loss to a team which had dropped 37 of their last 39 games. In that time, the Cavs had endured a record-breaking 26-game losing streak that included a whopping 55 point loss to a very different looking Lakers team.
At the time, this loss and the overall struggles of the Lakers were becoming a serious story and many questioned whether the squad had already seen its best days and whether they remained a legitimate threat to claim their third straight title.
However, others speculated that the Lakers simply weren’t putting their best foot forward and that, come playoff time, they would be able to step up and play the way a two-time defending champion should. Lakers star forward Lamar Odom took this stance as well, admitting, “That’s our problem…we take teams lightly at times,” before declaring, ironically, “I’m not that worried.”
The Lakers went on to seemingly prove their critics wrong by winning 17 of their next 18 games following the All-Star break, including a statement victory over their rivals, the Western Conference-leading San Antonio Spurs. Unfortunately, this streak was directly followed by a disconcerting five-game losing streak that once again raised questions about the consistency and mentality of the team.
The Lakers enter the postseason as the second seed in the West, having won their previous two games. Few now doubt that Los Angeles has the talent and experience necessary to overcome Chris Paul and the seventh-seeded New Orleans Hornets, as well as any other teams they may encounter.
However, after an unimpressive 109-100 Game 1 loss to New Orleans at the Staples Center, one has to wonder if the Lakers are once again playing down to their competition. If this is the case, the Lakers could be on the verge of suffering a perplexing first round upset that would be an unfitting end to the illustrious career of Phil Jackson.
