City in ruins: L.A. reels from Lakers' capitulation in humiliating sweep
| Los Angeles
This is a town filled with diehard basketball fans trying to escape the bad news, and failing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 everywhere, where am I supposed to go?鈥� says Ty Duvay, whacking copies of L.A.鈥檚 two major newspapers down on a coffee shop table here, each with photo spreads on both Page 1 and the front of the Sports section.
鈥淟akers lose their cool and series,鈥� says a caption on Page 1 of the Los Angeles Times. In the photo, Lakers center Andrew Bynum is being ejected from Sunday鈥檚 122-86, Game 4 loss to the Dallas Mavericks after a flagrant fourth-quarter foul on Dallas guard J.J. Barea.
鈥淚鈥檓 crushed, depressed, disappointed, in mourning,鈥� says Mr. Duvay, quaffing a foam-covered latte with the despair of Humphrey Bogart at his bar in 鈥�Casablanca.鈥� Outside at the curb, Duvay鈥檚 hearse-black SUV sports four, limp, purple-and-yellow 鈥�Go Lakers!鈥� flags.
鈥淩elax 鈥� DUDE 鈥� we got Osama bin Laden, the economy鈥檚 coming back 鈥� get a grip!鈥� says his friend, Todd Davis.
Pick your analysis
So what went wrong? A popular culprit is desire: The Dallas Mavericks were hungrier and more in need of a playoff vindication. The Lakers after all, were two-time defending champions while the Mavericks have only one finals appearance to show for a decade among the league's elite.
Also possible is that success has at last worn down the Lakers. Sunday was the 77th post season game since 2008 鈥� nearly an entire, extra, 82-game regular season.
The most unthinkable? Maybe the Lakers were outplayed by a better team.
鈥淚n any sport, so much of the postseason is about matchups. In this case, the Lakers ran into a difficult matchup,鈥� says Eric Musselman, former head coach of the Golden State Warriors, in an e-mail. He says that defending opposition point guards was a concern for the Lakers throughout the regular season.
鈥淒allas guard J.J. Barea had a significant impact on the series. He was a momentum-changer,鈥� Mr. Musselman says.
The Dallas defense also stifled the Lakers' strengths, mixing up zone defenses with man-to-man. "Their zone defenses took away the inside advantage that that the Lakers had,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he zone forced the Lakers to shoot the three-ball. And they had trouble converting on those shots.鈥�
He and others also say that the Lakers were stunned by losing the first two games on their home floor. 鈥淚t鈥檚 human nature. Guys lose confidence,鈥� says Musselman. 鈥淭he hill starts to look like a mountain.鈥�
Los Angelenos sing the blues
Whatever the analysis, it is hitting Los Angelenos hard. 鈥淥ne of the amazing things about sports in this society is that it helps deflect attention in life to something that is positive,鈥� says Dan Lebowitz, executive director of the Center for Sport in Society at Northeastern University. But 鈥渢hat identification can also be a negative."
Adds Tyler Barnett, owner of a Los Angeles PR firm: 鈥淲hen Lakers flags are on all the cars on [Interstate] 405, people are much friendlier to each other,鈥� he says. 鈥淎s a direct result of the Laker鈥檚 let-down, I鈥檝e noticed people driving more aggressively and less cautious. In a city known for its traffic, the last thing we need is more road rage.鈥�
