All we need is EFFORT because we will be getting points on the road in Portland. All we need is for this team to be competitive. Off a historic backbreaking loss, maybe never to be seen again, I am selling you the fact we will get that.
A bruised ego like this does not come along often. It has several times in the past three years with the worst Laker teams in their history. But a 49 point loss is not a 50 point loss. That indignity of '50' may very well make this the largest loss ever to be seen in Lakers history.
Teams fight to get under that 50. Just don't lose by FIFTY (after we loafed through the entire game) and it'll be ok. We as cappers HAVE to capitalize on this angle because we won't get it back.
And remember this: Unlike the past several years, THIS TEAM IS NOT TANKING.
The Lakers draft pick is protected in the top three but it is clear this team is done losing. Scott was sent away and Walton was brought in precisely because of this.
While the Lakers are tip-toeing around falling into the top 3, there is no guarantee they wouldn't be bumped to the fourth spot and lose their pick to the Sixers. This is a team screaming "The rebuild is over" after Kobe has left the building (and he, and his ball hogging ways a major key to their losing the past several seasons). Now he is gone. Now this team is responding. Now it is time to win. A team that is guaranteed not to tank is a team, at a minimum, you can trust in this spot.
But amazingly, because of the bruised NBA egos, you can trust even TANKING teams! Specifically the Lakers! Don't believe me?
I have the evidence:
Exactly. That is my response WMI.
He provides some non-existent skit of Walton addressing the players about losing by 50, which completely misses the boat (and everything else).
The FIFTY is not the focus. The FIFTY as stated many times in the OP is simply an upper bound which teams can lose by. Hence the Lakers went through hell and high water to get under 50 (as ridiculous as that may seem that loss total carries a stigma for these mega-millionaires).
Hence, we may never see the Lakers lose by a historic margin again. And historic margins be it, 35,40,45, or any other number is the focus since these players now have to answer questions for several days as being the team that lost by the most points in team history.
And that team has had Magic, and Kareem and Worthy and Kobe and Shaq and... Nick Van Exel, and now this team is the team that, possibly forever will be remembered as the team that lost the worst in the worst way possible against a terrible team. Since the 50 may never be eclipsed.
And THAT is why against an underwhelming Blazer team I am endorsing the pick with a boatload of insurance on the spread.
And road games in this spot are great since you get all the points for the road swing but no less motivation to remove the stain of the historic loss, which must be done ASAP, and which the Lakers, as recent history has dictated with this hapless team, occurs not only on the spread but also on the ML. Which makes 10 points at the opening here ridiculously high and completely ignores anything I'm saying here.
So he can take his Walton locker room skits and have a blast with them while we all do what we came here to do: make money.
Established in 1995,
Hot Forum Topics
