Thoughts On The Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers 2008-2009 regular season came to an end tonight with an impressive 125-112 victory over the Utah Jazz, who ironically will be the Lakers opponent in the first round of the playoffs. The Lake Show finished the regular season with a 65-17 record, 2nd best in the NBA, and 8 games better than their 57-25 mark last season. Despite the fact that the Lakers didn't have the best record in the NBA, you can argue that they were the best team in the league this year. Their record against the top 10 opponents in the league this year was 21-7, and included sweeps over the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. Sure the Cavs may have had more wins, but their record against the Lakers, Celtics and Magic was a combined 2-6. Sure they can beat up on the horrible Eastern Conference teams, yet they stumble when they play tough competition. Life is good for the Lakers, why? Well for one Andrew Bynum is back, he is healthy, and he is playing like the dominate force he was before he hurt his knee in January. In tonight's game against the Jazz, Bynum scored 22 points, had 4 rebounds and 3 blocks. There is no one in the Western Conference that serves as a legitimate threat to beat the Lakers, as they went 17-5 this year against the other 7 playoff teams in the conference. Lets not forget this is a Laker team that clinched the #1 seed in the Western Conference over a month ago. This team really has no excuse not to be in the NBA Finals, and for that matter not to win the NBA Championship. Their starting lineup of Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Trevor Ariza, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum is the best in the league, however the real strength of this Laker team which separates them from others is the depth of their bench. Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar, Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, and Shannon Brown have all been great role players this season. Laker fans used the excuse that Andrew Bynum was hurt during the playoffs last season when asked how they lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Well this season there is no excuse, the Lakers have shown they can beat anybody, anywhere. They were the only team that beat the Cavaliers in Cleveland this year, and they beat the Celtics in Boston without Bynum. All this to say come June, Laker fans should expect another banner to be hung in the rafters of Staples Center. Anything short of a championship will be considered a failure for the Laker faithful. It has been 6 years too long since Laker fans have been able to flood the streets of Figueroa. Come Sunday night, you can throw those 65 wins in the garbage. For Laker fans, the NBA Playoffs is the real season. My predictions on the 1st round of the playoffs will come tomorrow night once all the seedings are final.