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12-29-2010, 07:34 PM
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-101229
.Share Updated: December 29, 2010, 5:22 PM ETCan Lakers' subpar season be saved?PER Diem (Dec. 29, 2010): The Lakers appear broken, but they can be fixedEmailPrintComments13 By John Hollinger
ESPN.com
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Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Kobe and the Lakers aren't accustomed to being on the short end of the score -- or the trash talk.SAN ANTONIO -- Let's start the morning with a sobering fact for Los Angeles Lakers fans: In NBA history, teams have lost three straight games by 15 or more points 361 times.
Want to know how many of those squads won the title?
Would you believe one of them? It's true -- according to Elias, only the 1977-78 Washington Bullets went on to win a championship after dropping three straight by such margins in the regular season. And that Bullets team, I would add, was arguably the worst champion in league history.
All of which is part of the new reality for a Lakers team that is rapidly losing its sheen as the alpha dog in the Western Conference. The San Antonio Spurs are six games ahead of the Lakers in the standings and just beat them handily head-to-head. Meanwhile, L.A. is icing its wounds after losing by 19 to the Milwaukee Bucks, by 16 to the Miami Heat and now by 15 to the Spurs.
(This, incidentally, is one reason I keep harping on scoring margin as a predictor of future success or failure. Good teams, even great ones, can easily lose three straight games by close margins and march on. But getting your brains beat in three straight? Normally, that is a much greater indicator of quality, or rather the lack of it. In fact, the last time it happened to the Lakers, in 2006-07, they finished with 42 wins.)
Although no sane person would put the Lakers' odds of repeating as low as 1-in-361, it does offer a shot glass full of reality. Moreover, it's tough to blame this slump on injuries because all their key players are in the lineup -- and one of the losses was to a Milwaukee team fielding a skeleton crew itself.
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.Share Updated: December 29, 2010, 5:22 PM ETCan Lakers' subpar season be saved?PER Diem (Dec. 29, 2010): The Lakers appear broken, but they can be fixedEmailPrintComments13 By John Hollinger
ESPN.com
Archive
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Kobe and the Lakers aren't accustomed to being on the short end of the score -- or the trash talk.SAN ANTONIO -- Let's start the morning with a sobering fact for Los Angeles Lakers fans: In NBA history, teams have lost three straight games by 15 or more points 361 times.
Want to know how many of those squads won the title?
Would you believe one of them? It's true -- according to Elias, only the 1977-78 Washington Bullets went on to win a championship after dropping three straight by such margins in the regular season. And that Bullets team, I would add, was arguably the worst champion in league history.
All of which is part of the new reality for a Lakers team that is rapidly losing its sheen as the alpha dog in the Western Conference. The San Antonio Spurs are six games ahead of the Lakers in the standings and just beat them handily head-to-head. Meanwhile, L.A. is icing its wounds after losing by 19 to the Milwaukee Bucks, by 16 to the Miami Heat and now by 15 to the Spurs.
(This, incidentally, is one reason I keep harping on scoring margin as a predictor of future success or failure. Good teams, even great ones, can easily lose three straight games by close margins and march on. But getting your brains beat in three straight? Normally, that is a much greater indicator of quality, or rather the lack of it. In fact, the last time it happened to the Lakers, in 2006-07, they finished with 42 wins.)
Although no sane person would put the Lakers' odds of repeating as low as 1-in-361, it does offer a shot glass full of reality. Moreover, it's tough to blame this slump on injuries because all their key players are in the lineup -- and one of the losses was to a Milwaukee team fielding a skeleton crew itself.
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