These are the Lakers

Not a good day, yesterday, to be one of my teams (see Liverpool rant below). The Lakers didn't do themselves any favors with regards to being taken seriously. That 46-point third quarter was one of the most difficult things I've ever watched in my sports fandom. And to have it happen against the worst record in the league? Ugh! Brutal. But these are the Lakers. Top five record in the NBA? Yes. Losses this season to Memphis, Charlotte, Portland, Milwaukee (with a makeshift lineup), Seattle? Oh yeah, we've got those, too. Luke Walton said it best after the huge win over Dallas on Sunday: this team cannot be considered elite until they play the way they did against the Mavs on a consistent basis, night in, night out. It's a mental issue for the Lakers, as they're all too prone to playing down to the level of competition at times. Tough defense is a mentality and the Lakers are lacking that grit, that teeth-nashing ferocity that says, "We're going to score 118 points tonight and you're not cracking 70." You can score on the Lakers and not because they emulate the Phoenix Suns (which they don't, but they certainly play better when they're running that style). Also, I'm not sure how this happens at the pro level, but LA cannot solve the zone defense. Only once have they had any success against it this season (versus Denver on Friday), but otherwise, they're like a deer in headlights. And yet here they are, right in the thick of it in the west, Kobe is an MVP candidate, and they travel to Houston, tonight, against whom they're up 2-0 in the season series. Seems to only make sense that a loss to the Grizzlies would be followed up by a win against the Rockets. After all, these are the Lakers. I guess I can take comfort in knowing that in the playoffs, there are no teams below a .450 winning percentage. At least not in the western conference, anyway.

Couple more notes before calling this one.

1. Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn nabbed something like 97% and 93%, respectively, on the Hall of Fame vote. I've gotta ask: WHO THE HELL IS VOTING "NO" ON THESE GUYS?! REVOKE THEIR CREDENTIALS IMMEDIATELY, DAMN IT!

2. Starting lineups for the NHL All-Star game are out. No serious beefs, here. Again, it's an all-star game, so how much do you really care. Nice to see a lot of fresh faces get starting nods. The lines change so frequently in hockey, it hardly matters who starts, but out in the east, I'd say that Jagr probably deserved the nod over Ovechkin and, in the west, I certainly would've put Teemu Selanne in there ahead of either of the Sharks, Thornton or Cheechoo. Chris Pronger probably should be skating on the blue line, too. Tough break for Rory Fitzpatrick (record vote-getter as a write-in candidate) who fell only 23,000 votes shy Niklas Lidstrom. The whole Fitzpatrick fiasco speaks volumes about why fan-balloting is both fun and absolutely ridiculous. It reminds me of going into McDonalds, back in the day, hording a whole bunch of NBA All-Star ballots that they had next to the straws, and voting for some slug Greg Ostertag over and over again. Imagine how disappointed you be to see Greg Ostertag voted in as a starter?