Arrogant Lakers Need Wake Up Call

The Los Angeles Lakers will play the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night after squeaking by a scrappy Houston Rockets team in seven games. 

We all knew it was going to happen. 

The Lakers have been penciled into the NBA Finals for several months now.

The problem is...the Lakers know it too, and even worse, they're playing like it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a lifelong Laker fan and LA resident, so this criticism is a bit of tough love.  After watching their inconsistencies in the Houston series, my beloved Lakers have become fat with success. 

They do not deserve to hoist any type of championship unless they improve their effort in a hurry, and Denver will gladly erase them from the playoffs if given the chance.

NBA teams and players pride themselves on the talent they possess, and no one disputes the Lakers' talented roster.  However, effort is what wins games and effort is what has been lacking from this team. 

Effort also demands respect from opponents and displays respect for the game, the opponent, and the fans.   

This is a recurring Laker problem. 

Playing to the level of the competition is a problem they have had for years, as far back as the Shaq-Kobe-Phil triumvirate of champions, but never in the playoffs.

Those superstar-spoiled Laker teams may have rested on their laurels in the regular season, but they always took the playoffs seriously. Their coasting could be forgiven because of inspired postseason play. 

This year's playoff apathy is new, and even worse...it's readily apparent.  Anyone watching the up and down performances in the playoffs could see it.

Kobe Bryant described these Lakers as "Bi-polar." 

I offer a different description...arrogant.  Practitioners of Hollywood hubris.

The Lakers know they have the talent to win it all, so they flex their muscles when they choose and are now taking whole games off.  Then when they lose, as they did against a heavily bandaged Houston team, they can offer the excuse that they weren't trying.

With a wink and a nod Kobe and Phil Jackson credit the Rockets in their post-game interviews, but the teams' behavior seems to say: "We really didn't feel like playing tonight.  We'll beat 'em when we feel like it."

Enough.

Arrogance is almost never rewarded and does nothing to build respect as a hardworking team or organization.  The fans and the game deserve better.  These Lakers should be catching flak for phoning it in. 

And unless they snap out of it, the gritty Nuggets will give them what they have deserved so far—a playoff exit.