The Lakers coach is a strange bird. He is. Son of a minister, grew up in the Dakotas, something of a Zen devotee … I mean, the man is a space cadet. Like no other successful American professional sports coach. Maybe ever. Really. Who is the previously most detached/deranged major sports coach in the country? […]

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That’s it. I’m done with them. They may keep playing for another week or 10 days … hell, maybe even into June … but there is now way these Lakers win an NBA championship. None. No serious contender for a title allows these Houston Rockets to take them to a Game 7. No way. Doesn’t […]

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This will provide a link to the newspaper story I did for the North County Times/Temecula Californian, late Tuesday night out the Lakers’ blowout of Houston. I probably went a little too long and hard with the “Jekyll and Hyde” concept, especially considering people tend not to read any more …and literary references are a […]

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The Lakers are turning the aphorism inside out. It isn’t about the journey, it’s the destination. Don’t ask them how they’re getting to the Western Conference (and NBA?) finals? Don’t inquire about the backtracking, missed exits and awkward U-turns and having to ask for directions. Just ask the Lakers if they are getting where they […]

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The Lakers are up, 35-24, at the end of the first quarter. Big deal, you say? Normally, you would be right. But then there’s this little tidbit, courtesy of one the Houston reporters who covers the Rockets:

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Lakers fans are chanting “M-V-P” as Kobe Bryant goes to the line. Uh, NO. That was so last season. At the moment, the MVP is LeBron James. As it should be. The LeBron James whose Cavaliers are 8-0 in the playoffs. Not the Kobe Bryant whose team is 2-2 with Houston in the second round […]

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Lakers fans seem to be nervous. Which is understandable. The team couldn’t hold leads in the Utah series and is tied 2-2 with Houston in the second round, including that hideous blowout defeat in Game 4 on Sunday. Which leads me to wonder … do their ticket-buying fans treat them as they always do — […]

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Final score: Houston 99, Lakers 87. And it wasn’t that close. Not even. Not when the Lakers trailed by as many as 29 points in the second half. At first, I was thinking of titling this “Rockets Embarrass Lakers.” But that wouldn’t be quite right. The Lakers embarrassed themselves. It was far more about them […]

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Anyone who has paid the slightest attention to the 2008-09 Lakers knows they generally are no better than they have to be. There is a lack of mental toughness in this crew, Kobe Bryant aside, and if they believe that an assignment ahead of them can be accomplished despite some coasting … well, they’re going […]

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Yes. “Destructive.” That’s the word I settled on. After considering “awful” … “horrible” … “distracting” …”uncoachable” … “deranged” … and a couple that failed the definition I set in the headline — “train wreck” and “loose cannon” and “disaster waiting to happen.” Ron Artest fascinates me, in a negative, very NBA sort of way.  He […]

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