Obviously, it's easy to make fun of the fans right now, but there is no pundit out there who thought this team would look so bad this early, either. Adorned with superstar players Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash, the Lakers have enough talent on paper to challenge the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
In fact, yours truly even picked them to do battle with the Heat in June. But with three losses, two of which coming against non-playoff contenders, it feels like the sky is falling in Los Angeles.
The brunt of the scorn has obviously fallen on Mike Brown, who, well, let's just say hasn't done the most competent job thus far. On the players' side of things, it's fallen on the head of the newbies, Nash and Howard, who have struggled to get acclimated.
Still, as always when sample sizes are so minuscule, I implore all the doomsday Lakers fans to practice patience—especially with Howard.
Through three games, one could actually look at the box score and be extremely encouraged about his progress. The superstar center has scored 21.7 points, grabbed 10.7 rebounds and blocked 2.3 shots per contest while shooting 61.8 percent from the field. If those numbers look familiar, it's because they are all right in line with Howard's career statistics.
However, that would be a straw man's argument and glaring evidence that whoever is saying D12 is all the way back hasn't actually watched the games. What used to be ferocious dunks are layups and Howard looks far slower on his feet than he did in Orlando.
Nonetheless, all of this is to be expected. You don't just have back surgery, have a slower than expected recovery, then hop back on the fl...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
