What else is there to say?

The Laker season has come to a merciful end after the Spurs put the brooms on them, 103-82. It goes without saying how disappointing this season has been; it’s definitely the most disappointing Laker season in my lifetime in terms of what was expected out of them.

As for the game itself, what did you expect? It was a bloodbath from the start. It was surprising enough that the Lakers were only down six after one and that it took more than 15 minutes of game time for the Spurs to be up by double digits. Then in the third quarter, Dwight Howard got ejected after getting his second technical. Even in losing, the Lakers are spectacular; they go down in flames. They couldn’t take care of the ball (21 turnovers) and the Spurs made very few mistakes (eight giveaways). After Dwight’s ejection, it pretty much looked like Pau Gasol and a D-League team. At least, they had they D-League MVP (Andrew Goudelock) in that squad?

We expected a championship trophy at the end of this campaign but what we got was a rash of injuries, a coaching change that didn’t result to most people’s liking, philosophical clashes between coach and player, and (sometimes) inexplicable losses to bad teams. Sure, the regular season ended with a flourish but luck just wasn’t on the Lakers side as we all know what happened to #24. It was like we all thought we were going to see the cast from Saved By The Bell but instead we got The New Class. Sure, Mr. Belding was still there but it really wasn’t the same and it turned out to be terrible.

Oh, yeah. Hi, Kobe. Nice to see you in the building. Also, hi, T-Mac. How does it feel to be in the second round?

We can all point to a lot of what ifs but the fact of the matter is that THIS is what happened. I’m sure we have a lot of questions in our minds. What if Mike D’Antoni came in from the start? What if Dwight Howard was healthy from the start? What if Steve Nash never got hurt? What if Pau Gasol never got hurt? What if Kobe Bryant played less minutes?

And that’s the theme coming into the summertime: it’s questionable. We’ll have weeks and months to dissect what the Lakers will do in the offseason. Will Dwight Howard stay? How healthy will Kobe Bryant be? Will Steve Nash retire? Will Pau Gasol be traded? Will someone get the amnesty clause? Even the coaching situation will have some questions.

This will be a long, long summer. Mitch Kupchak has a lot of work to do.

Thanks for reading, everybody. I’m sure the other guys here at FB&G can agree with me that it had been quite… an interesting season writing here.

I can’t say I’m surprised by the result — especially since I wrote as much in the game preview — but I can say I’m a bit surprised by some of the details of the outcome. The Spurs did what they were supposed to do in this game, so give them credit. They blew out a team who’s injured and lacking cohesion. They didn’t have letdown, didn’t come in unprepared. They put their foot on the Lakers’ neck and took the 3-0 lead they were supposed to grab considering the circumstances.

Where the surprise comes in is that it actually wasn’t the Lakers’ guards who struggled in this one. Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock started this game in place of Nash and Blake, and did quite well for themselves. Morris had the best offensive night of his career, scoring 20 points on 9-15 shooting while also handing out 6 assists. He showed relatively good poise and flashed some good playmaking instincts. Goudelock scored 24 points on 8-17 shooting, showing off a more refined version of the offensive game he flashed last season. He hit an array of runners, pull up jumpers, and spot up threes to remind us that if there’s one thing he can do is score the ball.

Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol also played pretty well, all things considered. Dwight scored a team high 25 points on 9-16 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds. He worked through physical play all night, getting hit and wrapped up on nearly every paint touch. And while he could have showed a bit more composure, I don’t blame him for being visibly frustrated by how often he took a hard shot from one of the Spurs. As for Pau, he recorded his first ever playoff triple-double by scoring 11 points (on 5-10 shooting) while grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing 10 assists (both team highs). While I would have liked to see Pau get up more shots, he was fantastic at picking out teammates for makable shots and being patient in taking what the defense was giving him.

Besides those four Lakers, however, no one else did much of anything. And that, of course, is a problem. If the team was ever going to hang tough against a team as good as the Spurs, they needed to have everyone raise their level of play. Instead, Ron (who, to be fair, just had his knee drained and was clearly not moving well) went scoreless in 17 minutes, while Jamison (2-5) and Clark (2-9) combined for 9 points on 14 shots in a combined 50 minutes of action. Add in Duhon’s poor display (0-1, zero points, no assists in 25 minutes) and the Lakers simply didn’t have enough in this game.

So, ultimately, this was a pretty frustrating night even though what came about wasn’t totally unexpected. It was certainly disappointing to see the defense struggle the way that they did, but the Spurs were a top offense all year for a reason. They know how to execute and get the shots they want. Plus, when Tim Duncan is hitting his jumper all night, it’s going to be tough to hold them down in any way considering that long two is the one shot a defense should feel comfortable surrendering on most possessions. But with that shot going in, the Lakers had no answers for the Spurs’ offense and, so, the rout ensued.

Game four is on Sunday and we’ll see how the Lakers respond. I don’t think we’ll see them lay down, but another bad loss wouldn’t be unexpected. At this point it’s clear that the Lakers don’t have enough to compete for a full 48 minutes. And while that’s upsetting, it’s also the reality of the situation.

Well, maybe not just a little.

But the San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 102-91, to take a 2-0 series lead in this best-of-seven.

It seemed like the disparity of talent showed in this game. It’s not like the Lakers played bad overall but you can see how much better the Spurs are. The Spurs were able to get a basket when they needed to and have a lot more firepower than this depleted Laker team. What’s even worse? Steve Blake (16 points), who had been basically carrying the Lakers in the past week or two, injured his hamstring late in the game. Yes, because what the Lakers need are more injuries.

On the positive side, it was nice to see Jordan Hill back on the court. Did Mike D’Antoni bring him in too late? Perhaps. But the guy just got back from an injury so I don’t blame Coach Mike D’Antoni taking it easy on him. It was also good to see Andrew Goudelock get some minutes and he probably should’ve been used earlier considering how the backcourt was so hobbled.

Also, this was the most energized Dwight Howard had looked this season. He was quick to rotate defensively and made some athletic putback dunks and rejections. Dwight had 16 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks but foul trouble limited his minutes.

It hurt to see Steve Nash out there. The 39-year-old looked more like he’s 89 years old out there and he was laboring. If anything, he seemed to hurt the team more by being out there but it took a lot of guts for him to get on the court. You gotta admire that.

It also wouldn’t hurt for them to get on the post more. They have Dwight and Pau Gasol (13 points, nine rebounds). The Lakers should use them more often. It was nice to see the 2-4-5 alley-oop play even without Kobe and I wonder if they should use that more often.

As for the Spurs, Tony Parker persevered through Steve Blake’s tough D and ended with 28 points. We knew he wasn’t going to be kept down for long. Tim Duncan was his usual brilliance with 16 points. Kawhi Leonard got it going for San Antonio with 16 points of his own. And Manu Ginobili with his herky-jerky movements and pull-up threes poured in 13 points, five rebounds, and seven assists. Even Matt Bonner put in 10 points (the Red Rocket, Red Mamba, Red Rooster, whatever). Just too much firepower. When the Spurs made runs, the Lakers simply couldn’t counter.

I don’t have much to say at this point. They’ll be at the comforts of their own home on Friday and we know what the Lakers’ advantages are. So they should go to that more and often. But if Steve Blake isn’t going to play, who will fill in for him? Heck, who will be their third scorer?!

All year long, the Lakers haven’t belonged in a professional basketball league. They really should be in a hospital ward.

Game 3 will be on Friday. Let’s hope we get some good news out of Blake’s injury.

And lastly, I would’ve loved to see Kobe Bryant live-tweet the game. But instead, he probably ended up watching Pitch Perfect for the tenth time. I wouldn’t blame him. That’s way better than watching Game 2.

Eighty two games are in the books and the Lakers have claimed the 7th seed in the playoffs. When the team was 17-25, it looked like they’d never get to this point. But they closed the season on a 28-12 run (which is about a 57~58 win pace if over a full season) and got it done. It wasn’t always pretty and there were definitely more than a few moments of doubt, but they got into the playoffs and, in beating the Rockets 99-95 in overtime, avoided facing their worst possible match up in the first round. At this point in the year, I’ll definitely take it.

Some notes on the game:

• Pau Gasol was fantastic. He notched his 2nd triple double in three games, scoring 17 points, grabbing 20 rebounds, and dishing out 11 assists. For most of the 2nd half, Gasol was the fulcrum of the Lakers’ offense, playing high-low with Dwight Howard and making the correct pass-shot read on nearly every possession. Defensively he more than held his own as well, sometimes having to guard Carlos Delfino on the perimeter and other times protecting the paint while guarding Greg Smith.
• Dwight Howard was also a monster inside on both sides of the ball. Dwight didn’t have his best night shooting the ball (6-15 from the floor), but was still able to score 16 points and hit a couple of late game free throws that pushed a one point lead to three in the closing minutes of regulation. Where Dwight was at his best was on defense, however. In the 2nd half (and especially the 4th quarter and overtime), Dwight played at a DPOY level in shutting down the paint and in helping all over the floor. On one sequence, he had his shot blocked right underneath the basket but then sprinted full out back on D, recovered to the paint, and tipped away Jeremy Lin’s dribble under the basket to force a turnover. That type of effort was there so often as he made play after play on that end of the floor to keep the Lakers in the game. Be it a blocked shot, a forced miss by challenging without fouling, or simply cleaning the glass after a miss (he had 18 rebounds of his own), Dwight was amazing in this game.
• For the 2nd straight game Steve Blake was a tremendous offensive weapon for the Lakers. His 24 points and 7 assists (with 7 rebounds too) were huge and really helped provide balance to an offense that needed an outside threat to counter a post heavy attack. Blake was fearless, aggressive, and most of all confident in every shot he took and in running the offense in general. He worked the elbows of the floor when coming off picks and moved into the gaps of the Rockets’ perimeter D to make himself available for kick-out and swing passes to set up his three point shot. When you add in his solid defense on Jeremy Lin and Patrick Beverly, Blake was the third member of the Lakers’ Big 3 against Houston.
• Pau, Dwight, and Blake combined for 45 rebounds. The Rockets as a team had 46. I’d say that was a pretty important stat in this game.
• Jodie Meeks couldn’t hit a shot all night (2-10) and missed several wide open three pointers (1-7 from behind the arc), but his defense on James Harden down the stretch was very good. Meeks pressured Harden high on his dribble and threw in little quirks like shifting his stance and reaching in at the right moment to disrupt Harden’s attack. Harden wasn’t very effective down the stretch and while some of that was definitely related to the Rockets’ iso-heavy, stagnant attack, Meeks deserves credit for how well he played on that end. Meeks also had several big hustle plays (including saving a tipped pass from Blake to Pau that looked to be a sure turnover) and hit 4 big FT’s down the stretch (two that pushed the lead to three points and another that pushed the lead to 4 in the closing seconds). Meeks looked like the goat because of his shooting, but he did a lot of other good things in this game to help the Lakers win.
• Chandler Parsons’ three pointer to force overtime looked like a Matt Kemp line drive to center field. How that frozen rope got over the rim is beyond me, but he hit it to force the extra period. A great shot out of a scramble play that could have deflated the Lakers. It was great to see them respond by winning in the overtime.
• Down the stretch of the regulation and in overtime D’Antoni played Jamison at small forward in place of Ron and Clark. Jamison held his own on defense and was active on offense (cutting, tipping rebounds). I’m not sure how well that will work down the line, but it was a nice change up tonight that made a difference.
• The Blake, Meeks, Jamison, Pau, and Dwight lineup played 16 minutes together. In those minutes the team had a defensive efficiency of 70.9. Again, a lot of that had to do with Dwight’s dominance (and Pau’s secondary rim protection), but the fact that Jamison could be part of that unit was great for the Lakers since he’s such a versatile offensive player for the team.
• Speaking of that lineup, credit the coach for making a smart decision and then riding it out when it showed it would work. Normally Jamison would be eaten alive by a player the caliber of Parsons, but the Rockets’ offense went to Harden almost exclusively that Jamison was able to float on the weak side a lot without having to guard in isolation too often.
• Props to Darius Morris. He played good defense throughout the game and hit his only two shots to score 5 points. Not huge numbers, but enough to justify him being on the floor to pester Harden and Lin as an on ball defender.

The Lakers will have a few days off to prepare for the playoffs, but tonight they should enjoy this win just like us fans. The regular season didn’t produce the type of results we all would have liked, but this team continued to fight and persevere to get to where they did. For that they, and we, should be proud.