Page 4 November 7, 2013 Looking For Gold Publish your DBA for only $75 (Includes Proof of Publication) HERALD PUBLICATIONS 312 E. Imperial Ave. El Segundo, CA 90245 FAX: 310-322-2787 www.heraldpublications.com Sports Mustangs Crush Olympians 42-0 Senior Quarterback Greg Briskin sprints for the first down. Photos by Shelley Kemp. Senior Runningback Sebastian Frank-love breaks through Leuzinger defensive line. By Adam Serrao After a thrilling opening night for the Los Angeles Lakers, at which they took out the much-heralded Los Angeles Clippers, who share the same building and are expected to contend for a championship this year, the Lakers let it all slip right out the window by getting routed by the Golden State Warriors 125-94 the next day. Naturally, the Lakers aren’t going to go undefeated or even compete for one of the league’s best records this year. Fans must restrain their expectations now. This season is not one that is going to be one of the greatest of all time, especially with Kobe coming off of a horrific injury. These Lakers aren’t going to win many second of back-to-backs this year, even if they happen to be against the likes of the Charlotte Bobcats or New Orleans Pelicans, rather than the Warriors. These Lakers, with Kobe, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash, are still an old team and will have to maintain healthy in order to get into the playoffs and make any kind of a dent. Even coach Mike D’Antoni knows that it’s going to be a bumpy road, but if the Lakers can find gold in some of the younger players on the roster, a championship may not be as far away as it currently seems. Credit still must be given to the Lakers for beating the Clippers and handling them in the fourth quarter with only bench players for the entire 12-minute span. Last year, with Kobe, the Lakers lost four of four games against the Clippers, giving a spark to what is now considered an inner-city (or inner-arena) rivalry. The Warriors showed the same type of exuberance and energy in their home opener the very next night that the Lakers did versus the Clippers as they destroyed the purple and gold. Let’s face it, though – no one thought that the Lakers would beat the legitimate champion-contending Warriors on that night. So who are the Lakers? Are they the team that came out with energy and took it to the Clippers, or are they the team that came out and laid down against the Warriors? Possibly both. The remainder of the season will certainly tell, but by looking at just the first two games of the season we can begin to make some assumptions, at least. The Lakers are supposed to be a defensively weak team this year. That’s no shock considering D’Antoni is the head coach and dinosaurs like Gasol and Nash must protect the center lanes of the court. That fact certainly reared its ugly head when the Warriors put up 125 points against them. Kurt Rambis was brought in as an assistant coach to shore up the defense and he will certainly have his work cut out for him this year, but don’t expect the Lakers to easily beat any teams that are offensively savvy this season. With Bryant sidelined due to injury, the leaders on the court are going to have to be Gasol and Nash. Nash will most likely always sit out the second of back-to-backs this year to preserve his health, leaving the team almost directionless in his absence. Once again, that was the case against the Warriors and the Lakers took an ugly loss. The starters are also old, and like Nash will need a lot of rest in a long 82-game season. It may take some work to keep everyone healthy. That responsibility will belong to D’Antoni again this year, like it did last year when Kobe was overplayed and tore his Achilles. Despite those weaknesses, the Lakers do, believe it or not, have a few strengths to contrast. One thing that has been overwhelmingly obvious since the tip-off of opening day at Staples Center is that these players have chemistry together. That’s right--Dwight Howard is gone and apparently happy in Houston. That means that now, everyone gets along with one another on the Lakers. Chemistry is one thing that can bring a team a long way and the Lakers certainly look to have it early on this year. Youth may have a lot to do with that. Jordan Farmar, Jodie Meeks and the electric Xavier Henry have used their youth and provided a spark from off of the bench that has given the Lakers an aspect that has been absent on the team for a long time now. Those three, plus the likes of Jordan Hill and others, give the Lakers a bench that can run and score and keep the team in the game when the starters must rest. That bench was the same one that scored 76 points against the Clippers last week. An even mix of veteran leadership with Pau and Nash mixed in with the youth described above can possibly make the Lakers a threatening team this year. Any time you add Kobe Bryant to that mix near the middle of the year, it certainly can’t hurt either. It’s obviously still early in the year and considering only two games of the season have been discussed, different variables can, of course, change. Coaches and players alike are getting used to each other and the system being run on the floor, so it is not time to panic quite yet because of a 31-point loss in Oakland. One thing remains certain, though –with a whole list of players in their contract years, there are a lot of people with something to prove, including D’Antoni, if he wants to be around to coach the team again next season. This year will certainly be an interesting one in Laker Land where despite their finish this season, the Lakers look for gold out of one or two key players who could possibly help them in their quest to become a championship-caliber team again in the near future. •
Manhattan 11_07_13
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