One Step Forward...Two Steps Back

The Lakers looked awesome last night. Well, for a half at least. A night after coming off an 11-assist performance which included several wrap-around-the-back passes (the most impressive, by the way, was not the one to Turiaf, but rather the left handed around the back pass to Odom in the post—what an impossible pass…Try that Steve Nash!) Kobe had the Lakeshow rolling early. They took a 54-45 lead into halftime against the, albeit struggling, defending champs.

They looked quicker, faster, and younger than the Spurs. They played with fire, they played together, and they played well in spite of not having Bynum or Ariza or, to a lesser extent Mihm and Vlad Rad.

But when the Lakers came back out after half, they played like they were having flashbacks of that Boston game with the skimpy shorts. 22 turnovers is horrible for a junior high girls basketball game. And Mr. Passion Bucket Pass happy Kobe had 9 of them. Sure, not all of them were his fault, and sure, the Spurs have mastered the art of the foul that doesn’t get called, but come on, that’s no way for an MVP to be playing. 

Of course, learning from mistakes most definitely is how an MVP should act and respond to a game like Tuesday’s. Afterwards Kobe said, “Tonight is a good lesson for us in terms of how quickly momentum can change…” True dat.

But, despite the negative outcome, and despite dropping from 3^rd all the way down to 6^th in the West with just one loss (If they would have won, they would have been 2^nd…crazy right?), there were some definite positives to take away from the experience.

Like for instance, how they did look real good without Bynum and Ariza against the defending champs in the first half. Or how the Spurs needed boosts from Brent Barry and Ime Udoka to get the win. Or how Manu was shut down offensively. Or Sasha’s 11 points and 7 boards with 2 3s off the bench. Or Ronny’s 14 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks (interestingly, after sparking their run in the first half, Ronny did not see a single minute in the 3^rd when the Lakers got pounded).  

So there was good. But moral victories only carry so far. And with the Dallas Mavericks up tomorrow night, the Lakers better get into that first half gear and ride it all the way to a victory.