Predictions of their demise have run rampant across the airwaves, as their recent three-game losing streak has induced anyone with a voice to proclaim their quest for a repeat all but dead.
A three-game losing streak for any other team would be a rough patch, but for the Lakers who have not lost three consecutive games in almost two years, it is a sign of impending doom.
Life as the defending NBA champions is a hard one and besides being every opponent's biggest game, every loss is scrutinized, dissected, and presented as evidence to an eventual downfall.
Additionally, this is the Los Angeles Lakers, a team despised for their excellence and held to a higher standard than any other franchise in professional basketball.
Expectations in Los Angeles are high every year, and the success of the team throughout the years has created an air of arrogance which surrounds the fans and the franchise.
Anyone who follows the Lakers fully expects them to be successful and this smug confidence has fostered an environment in which anyone not associated with the team rejoices whenever Los Angeles stumbles.
This is a phenomenon that transcends basketball and can be seen with other professional teams such as the New York Yankees in baseball, and the Dallas Cowboys in football.
They are simply the teams that people love to hate and some observers generate as much excitement seeing these teams lose as they do when their own teams win.
For those people it is much easier to decry the recent issues of the Lakers as the beginning of the end, rather than putting their recent three-game losing streak into perspective.
Most of the Lakers' struggles stem from an indiffer...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
