Panic Time?

The beauty of sports is the ups and downs. Without the valleys, the peaks wouldn't feel so good. That's why teams scream no one believed in us when they win championships. Because it feels better to go from the lowest low to the highest high.

The Lakers have gone through some obstacles. Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza were already facing pretty serious injuries and now Pau Gasol goes down with a sprained ankle that did not appear to be on the lighter side.

"I would be ecstatic if he only misses three games," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

That's not a particularly good sign.

You could say it's been a roller coaster season for the Lakers. First the low of the offseason with all the Kobe drama, then the solid start followed by the Bynum injury, and then the Gasol trade to bring hopes to a high.

Yesterday, with the loss of Gasol and a loss to the Hornets, the team is at a low once again.

This is the time for a team to band together and to overcome adversity. The bench that has been so improved this year has to step up. Kobe must prove that when times are tough, he can still be a good leader.

If Bynum and Gasol come back and the Lakers make a deep run in the playoffs, each win will be that much sweeter because of the situations they've faced throughout the season.

By the way, Spain still won the World Championships (pictured above) without Gasol.

CSUN's season ends on a low:

Cal State Northridge basketball led the Big West Conference from the first day to the last day, finishing in a three way tie. But in their first game of the Big West Tournament, the semifinals, the Matadors went out quietly.

The Matadors lost 83-68 to Cal State Fullerton in a game they never led and didn't get closer than 10 in the second half.

They turned the ball over, took bad shots, and didn't play the kind of pressure defense that led to their success all season. Fullerton had already played a game the night before and had a rhythm to their offense from the start. The Titans took it to Northridge early, building an early 20 point lead from which the Matadors could not recover.

The season began on an unexpected high, with seven straight conference wins and ended on a low, with no NCAA Tournament appearance.

The idiocy of Joel Meyers:

For about three possessions after Gasol went down with his ankle injury, Meyers didn't even mention the fact that the Lakers were playing four on five and that Gasol was at one end of the court grabbing his ankle. Now he either is completely blind or he just flat out chose not to discuss a potentially devastating injury.

He continued calling the game like nothing was wrong.

I sat there stunned while Meyers talked about how well the Lakers were playing at that point. Is this what it's come down to? The intelligence of the viewers is being insulted and there's nothing we can do about it. Chick Hearn is turning over in his grave.


Who knew Chan Ho Park's autograph could cause an international incident?

Apparently, Chinese soldiers stood between Chan Ho's fans and the Dodgers super star potential fifth starter.


As always, an updated Lakers +/- (through 65 games) Lakers: 45-20 T- 1st in West

Fisher +295
Kobe +515
Turiaf +67
Odom +363
Gasol +227
Mihm -16
Walton +185
Bynum +236
Farmar +199
Radmanovic +244
Brown -44
Vujacic +100
Crittenton -40
Karl +7
Ariza +5
Mbenga +3

Up next: at Houston Friday 12:30 p.m. PST ABC