Chris Humphreys-US Presswire
The Los Angeles Lakers were heavily expected to dominate this season. With the arrivals of superstars such as Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, success was thought to be a given.
The talented roster was meant to take the 2012-13 season by storm, dominating their division and their conference in the way that one of the greatest teams in NBA history would.
After 37 games into the season the Lakers are nowhere near providing fans with a team that is capable of becoming champions for the 17th time.
What’s more possible is that they might not even reach the playoffs at all. As things stand the Lakers are five games under the .500 mark with a real possibility of missing out on the postseason.
The Lakers and their fans need to wake up to the reality of the situation and realize that they are certainly not anywhere near the best team in their division, less yet in the Western Conference.
The Lakers are not even the best team in the state of California right now, with the Golden State Warriors having a much healthier record, nor are they even the best in Los Angeles anymore with the Los Angeles Clippers being one of the best sides in the NBA this season.
After last night’s victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers the Lakers need to take that victory and use it to spur them onto more must-needed victories if they have any hope of reaching the playoffs.
Records don’t lie, it might make Laker fans feel good by comparing the 16 league wins to the Clippers previously lowly existence but how much does that really matter when your co-court neighbors are dominating a conference in which you are struggling to be one of the best eight teams.
It is clear that the Lakers are simply a very mediocre team at best and cannot by any means use their previous records to install fear into opponents; it simply will not work, and hasn’t worked all season.
Time is running out for the Lakers and there is certainly no more room for excuses in this team, such as Howard not being 100% fit, or Pau Gasol not being the same player he once was. We are have to eventually come to the conclusion that they are simply not good enough.
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