Sunday, February 10, 2013

Out with the old and in with the new

espn.com article link



The L.A. Lakers and Kobe Bryant have been an NBA powerhouse throughout the history of the league....back in the day it was Jerry West, Bill Walton, Kareem and then came the trade for the most dominant big man of his generation....Shaq. When the time came to choose between their aging big-man and their rising superstar in Kobe Bryant the Lakers chose to put their faith in Kobe. At that point the Lakers had won rings with Kobe, but Kobe had never won rings without Shaq, he got that proverbial monkey off his back while cementing his legacy as one of the greatest in the game, one of the greatest in history by the time he hangs em up....After last seasons embarrassing end the Lakers went into the off season with needs and came into the year with a revamped lineup that could be it's scariest in years with the addition of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash while retaining Pao Gasol. Scary on paper doesn't get you wins though, and the one thing that the Lakers are doing a lot of this year is LOSING. 

In a game that seemingly featured half of the league's all stars, the consistent championship contender and 5 time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and the Lakers vs last years NBA champion Heat. With the win the Heat moved further ahead in the race for the #1 seed in the East while the Lakers dropped to 4 games under .500 and 10th place in the West. Kobe is scoring 2 points per game more then his career average this season but he's now in his 17th year and combine that with the fact that he's played in the post season(and played deep into it) throughout his career, his body has got to be getting worn down, and the losing isn't helping.

Maybe the changing of the guard came later then some expected but it's happening one way or another....if it's not the Heat then it's the Thunder