A funny thing happened on the way to the Lakers' championship parade. The team ran into Yao Ming, Ron Artest, and the rest of the Houston Rockets. I'm not sure if you could hear it where you were watching, but in the quiet suburbs north of downtown LA, the warm spring air was filled with the sound of a giant "splat". It was the sound of Kobe running into Yao Ming's chest. It was the sound of the Lakers' 3 point shots bricking off the rim. It was the sound of the Lakers' cries of frustration as the Rockets got all the calls down the stretch. Most of all, it was the sound of the Lakers' over-confidence bursting out of its bubble.
Tomorrow's papers will be filled with "the sky is falling" laments of Laker fans. Hell, if we freaked when the team lost a game to Utah in Salt Lake City, imagine the reaction to giving away home court advantage. I have a different reaction, however. "Game ON!" Let's face it. Teams that win championships do so because they overcome adversity. If this Laker team is going to mature into a championship team, it needs to be battle tested - like last year's Celtics team.
Utah didn't help. The Jazz just reinforced the Lakers' belief in their own manifest destiny. Show up, overwhelm your opponent with offensive firepower, and breeze to the parade down Olympic Blvd. This Laker team needs the Rockets. They need a team to take them to 7 games, to challenge them, push them around, and force them to win ugly if they're going to win at all.
The Lakers didn't play well tonight. They were slow and out of sync. Kobe took a lot of shots. Pau and Lamar never got untracked, Drew got in foul trouble, and their 3 point shooting was lousy. If they come back with more defensive intensity, get their big men involved, and shoot a higher percentage, they'll come back strong on Wednesday. Let's hope this loss was the Texas sized wake up call this team needed. Because if they under-estimate the Rockets again at Staples Center, it's going to be a long, unhappy summer in the city of angels.
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