Not So Sure

"How could something well guided
Turn out to be divisive
Mostly wondering
It seems uncertain"
--Seems Uncertain, 311

I stumbled across this one and I think it accurately sums up the state of my beloved Lakers at the moment. This was supposed to be the best time of the year, when all differences and selfishness would be put aside for the greater good, but now it seems they're more fractured and unsure than ever. Aargh. Definitely nervous for tonight's game (tip-off in about an hour), not knowing what to expect or which Laker team will show up.
Spent some time yesterday after baseball watching the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals, Game 1 and part of Game 2. The Orlando Magic (led by Penny and Shaq) had defeated the Bulls the previous year, so this series had been eagerly anticipated for some time. The Bulls did what good teams do in the first game, dominating every facet of the game while letting Shaq and Penny essentially get theirs. The final score was 121-83 and a large part of the margin was tacked on by the Steve Kerr-led bench, but the domination was indeed there. Michael played within himself, scoring just 21, and was joined by six other Bulls in double figures. What a TEAM.
Penny had 40 and Shaq had 25 or so, but no other player reached double figures. In fact, the other three starters (Horace Grant, Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson) combined to go 0-10 from the floor and score just 2 points. Does that problem sound familiar? Just fill in Kobe for Penny and you've got the Lakers right now. (Several Laker connections in that game, by the way: Horace Grant and B-Shaw playing for Orlando, Ron Harper playing for the Bulls and Phil and his whole coaching staff.)
At his best this year, Karl was only a 15 and 8 guy. As a hobbled shell of his former self, he's no more capable of stepping up than Horace is, and Ho isn't even on the playoff roster. Gary has aged faster than he or anyone else wants to admit and he needs a lot of help at the defensive end. Offensively, he needs to be able to knock down open looks and that's not his strength at all. The guys who should be hitting those open looks, therefore giving Kobe and Shaq some much-needed offensive relief, are Fish, Kareem and Devean, and they've given us nothing through three games.
Of course, should they manage to eke out a win here, the series will be all tied up and home-court advantage will have been regained, no matter how poorly they've played thus far. We can only hope...
Played basketball this morning after early service at Bel Air (which was a nice dose of liturgy, actually), and I was 0-4 on dunk attempts, which pretty much sucked. The closest one I had, however, was a beautiful effort in a half-court set, pretty much on my boy Schnider, but it just rimmed out. Gotta get one of those down next week. Oh yeah, and our Westwood game tomorrow night got canceled, which means we have to stew in our defeat for another whole week. Hopefully the Lakers can take my mind off the rec league loss with a few wins of their own (yeah, everything pretty much goes back to them).
Got back to some songwriting again this weekend, which was a welcome renewal of something that I enjoy tremendously. Most of my inspiration over the last year-plus has come from the same place, but enough variety exists in the songs to make for a decent album, I would think. I'll have to spit out a couple more over the next few weeks with some varied subject matter, but the itch to write has returned, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Smile.
Need to go watch the pre-game show, see who else is counting the Lakers out before they awaken from this slumber. Cross your fingers...