The Lakers began their latest road trip on Tuesday night with a 100-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, which has unfortunately become the norm during Mike D'Antoni's short tenure as the team's head coach.
At least the Lakers have been consistent. They lose to the teams they are supposed to lose to and they lose to the teams they are supposed to beat.
Maybe a 9-13 record wouldn't bother a team like the Charlotte Bobcats or Detroit Pistons, but these are the Los Angeles Lakers we are talking about.
You know, the team with the NBA's leading scorer in Kobe Bryant and one of the game's greatest defensive forces roaming the paint in Dwight Howard.
It would be crazy to blame Bryant or Howard for the Lakers' latest loss to the Cavaliers, seeing that the ageless Bryant conjured up a 42-point gem, while Howard chipped in with a dominant 19 point, 20 rebound performance.
In fact, if you simply glanced at Bryant and Howard's respective numbers so far, it's hard to imagine how the Lakers have lost more games than they have won.
Bryant averages 28.6 points per game on 48.6 percent shooting from the field, while a still unhealthy Howard averages 18 points, 11.7 rebounds and shoots 58.6 percent from the field.
Those are elite numbers by any standard, but the dominance of the Lakers' two best players is not reflected in their won-loss record. It also doesn't help that the Lakers are without Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, who are both out with leg injuries.
According to D'Antoni and legions of Lakers fans, we will not get a true vision of what the Lakers really are until Nash returns and has had time to assimilate into the offense.
But...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
