Wake Up People, Lakers Have Blown Leads More Than Once in This Playoffs

Yeah yeah, the Lakers survived blah blah blah. They did it again, they blew a massive lead in an NBA playoff game and get away with murder. Unbelievable the way the Lakers play like this, no Kendrick Perkins, a hobbled Rajon Rondo, a still slightly injured Paul Pierce, a foul-plagued Kevin Garnett, and yet they won by 5? That is ludicrous! Haven’t we seen this before though?

Western Conference Semifinals

• Game 1: Lakers up 68-49 over the Utah Jazz at the 7:33 mark of the 3rd quarter. At the 4:44 mark of the 4th quarter, that lead was sliced to 91-87 Lakers, but Utah would still lose 109-98. That’s near collapse #1.
• Game 6: Lakers up 62-43 at halftime in Utah. Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur clank on their game-tying threes and the Lakers survive 108-105. That’s near collapse #2.

Western Conference Finals

• Game 4: Lakers stun the Spurs with a 22-8 start in their building. The Spurs would fight back and stay within touching distance of the lead but were unable to make that move. Now it’s 93-86 with just :43 to go. You know the rest, the Lakers stop making, the Spurs lose on a controversial non-call. That’s #3.

NBA Finals

• Game 3: Lakers lead by as many as 11 in the 2nd quarter before the gap is closed to 6 at halftime. They lose the lead and trail by 5 in the 3rd quarter, before Kobe Bryant bails them out and they beat the Celtics 87-81. Near collapse #4.
• Game 4: It’s 35-14 after the 1st quarter, the lead swells to 24 but the Celtics begin to chip away. In the 4th quarter, Eddie House drains a jumper and the Celts take their first lead of the game, and win 97-91. Collapse #1, and their 5th instance of seeing a big lead cut down to within 4 points.
• Game 5: Lakers take a 43-24 lead in the 2nd quarter, Celtics cut it to 55-52 by halftime and eventually take the lead in the 3rd. Lakers regain that lead and are up 84-72 in the 4th after a Lamar Odom (!) three. It’s 92-91 all of a sudden, but the Lakers survive 103-98.

I think you know where I’m going with this. It’s a recurring problem for the Lakers in this postseason, they get off to these great starts and then begin to slowly but surely fade, and in game 4’s case, it cost them a chance to be 3-2 up instead of 3-2 down. It caught up with them eventually, and now the Lakers better think about how they will play out game 6….and Chris Mihm in the 2nd quarter is not an option Phil Jackson!

More ESPN Euro 2008 Assignments

I’m looking at the dashboard, wondering how in the world did my riveting ESPN announcing list for Euro 2008 even made it to the WordPress front page. Then I realized that you guys are really curious aren’t ya? Thanks for viewing, and here is more of that goodness for this week. It’s halfway filled since ESPN has been fudging with the commentary crews with a Derek Rae and Andy Gray combo. Thanks to Timmy B from The506 and Awful Announcing (and my common sense) for the assignments.

Monday 6/16
2:30 p.m.- Poland vs. Croatia B (ESPN Classic) – Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth
2:30 p.m.- Austria vs. Germany B (ESPN) – Adrian Healey and Andy Gray

Tuesday 6/17
2:30 p.m.- Netherlands vs. Romania C (ESPN Classic) – Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth
2:30 p.m.- France vs. Italy C (ESPN) – Adrian Healey and Andy Gray

Wednesday 6/18
2:30 p.m.- Greece vs. Spain D (ESPN) – Adrian Healey and Andy Gray
2:30 p.m.- Russia vs. Sweden D (ESPN2) – Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth

Quarterfinals
Thursday 6/19 2:30 p.m. – Portugal vs. Germany (ESPN) – Adrian Healey or Derek Rae and Andy Gray
Friday 6/20 2:30 p.m. – Croatia vs. Turkey (ESPN) – Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth
Saturday 6/21 2:30 p.m. – Netherlands vs. Russia (ABC) – Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth
Sunday 6/22 2:55 p.m. – Spain vs. Italy (ESPN) – Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth