The L.A. Lakers Just Keep Sinking [Sports]

Shyne301 | January 9, 2013 | 2 Comments

When will the misery end for the L.A. Lakers? Even in the midst of Steven Nash becoming only the 5th player to reach 10,000 assists, this accomplishment was overshadowed by the Lakers losing to the Rockets 112-125. With last nights loss, the Lakers have now dropped 4 straight games and sit in 11th place in the Western Conference with a 15-19 record. And if the playoffs were to start today, they would be on the outside looking in. But what makes it worst, is that with all the new acquisitions, they were slated to be a powerhouse and make a run for the championship. Instead, the Lakers are just seen as the second team in L.A. and the 3rd best team in the state of California. The L.A. Clippers are number 1 in the Western Conference and have forced “Showtime” to take a backseat to “Lob City”. The Staple Center now belongs to the Clippers. When you ask most insiders what seems to be the problem with the Lakers, they’ll tell you its the coaching staff and their system. Mike D’Antoni was bought in to take over as coach and uplift the team, but we here in N.Y. and the fans in Phoenix already know all the pitfalls that comes along with that coaching staff. D’Antoni’s system is simply this: put up a shot every 7 seconds and out score your opponent. There is absolutely no emphasis on defense. Amare Stoudemire recently said in an interview, that this year under Mike Woodson was the first time in his career that he was taught defense. Now let the record show that he had D’Antoni as his coach for 7 years of his career. Everyone knows the slogan “defense wins games”, so why isn’t D’Antoni trying to win. Now for the people who don’t understand the slogan, let me break it down. Say your playing a sport, any sport, and you just cant seem to score many points. If you were only able to score 5 points but your defense was good enough to hold your opponent to 4 points, hey guess what: YOU JUST WON! Mike D’Antoni teams historically, don’t play any defense. The Lakers under D’Antoni, have given up 100 points or more in 79% of their games. In all 11 losses since December, the opposing team has scored 100 or more. In the last five games, the Lakers have allowed their opponents to average 115 points per game, yet the league average is only 97.6 points per game. His resume shows us that all the teams he has coached have given up an average of 100 points or more. Could this be the reason why he has never won a title or even the reached the finals. While the coach of the Suns, he had a team of all-stars and hall of famers and couldn’t even make it to the finals. On one roster he had Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, Jim Jackson, and Quentin Richardson, all of who were in their prime. Yet nothing to show for it. The Lakers went out and got Dwight Howard (a total bust), Steve Nash (a shell of what he used to be), and Mike D’Antoni (a one track mind coach) and are sinking fast. It might be time for the Lakers to start planning what they are going to be doing on vacation for this coming playoffs