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NBA Power Rankings: Los Angeles Lakers and Teams Falling Fast

Alex KayDec 26, 2011

The Los Angeles Lakers are sliding down the power rankings after falling to the Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day.

While they only lost by one point because of Derrick Rose’s sweet floater in the lane, which he made after isolating and driving on Derek Fisher, it was how they lost that is going to be a concern for Lakers’ fans throughout the season.

Kobe Bryant faltered not once, but twice down the stretch, and he made two crucial errors that cost Los Angeles a winnable game.

Shortly after putting his team up six with less than a minute to go thanks to a silky jumper in double coverage, Bryant threw a horrible pass intended for Pau Gasol.

The score was at 87-86 in favor of LA with less than twenty seconds on the clock before Luol Deng picked it off and found Rose for that go-ahead basket.

Kobe had a chance to win it with a little over four seconds remaining, but he found little elevation on his way to the basket and was swatted by Deng to end the game.

If Bryant is losing his killer instinct and ability to get to the rim, the Lakers are going to be in for a long season. The team plays in a lot of close games and will need their superstar to control the final minutes if they want to come out ahead.

If he continues to make critical mental errors and proves unable to physically dominate like previous years, the Lakers have little chance of making it back to the Finals.

Alex Kay's NBA Power Rankings

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