The lakers deserve to lose game 7 against the nuggets.

Although the Los Angeles Lakers will probably win Saturday nights game 7 at home against the Denver Nuggets, they don't deserve to. What they do deserve, is to lose and think about the terrible basketball they have played this far in the 2012 NBA playoffs. I have been a lakers fan since Jordan retired, and a young unknown named Kobe came into the league. My years as a fan have carried many highs and a few lows. The rivalry with the kings, the Kobe to shaq alley oop. Missing the playoffs in 05. Kobe out scoring the mavs after 3 quarters. Kobe's 81. Multiple championships. I am a spoiled fan, getting to see all of these great things. After last years lackluster effort in the playoffs against the hornets in the first round, and a clean sweep by the mavericks, I thought they could sink no lower. The effort(or lack thereof) from LA has been terrible. No ball movement in a painfully stagnant offense. No defense what so ever. And a series that wasn't even supposed to be close, has turned into Kobe vs Denver, not due to Bryant's well documented selfishness, but to the lack of production and heart of the rest of the team. Kobe did his best imitation of "the flu game" and played well, with a hunger to win(as usual), but his team mates fell flat. That's what kills me about this series and almost every other series I watch the lakers "compete" in, the lack of effort and emotion. The team has some of the best talent in the league, but they don't play hard. It is almost as if the team expects the win to be handed to them because of their lineage. One thing I learned at a very young age was the fact that even if you can't score one bucket, you can change the game with solid defense and hustle(see-Kenneth Faried). It is the one piece of basketball being lost in the fancy dribbling, shoe contracts and dunks. Passion is key. The will to win. Defiance of failure. PRIDE. The main issue here is that they simply don't care. These high dollar players have no worries. If they lose they hop in the benz and drive home to their mansion and fall asleep on some $5,000 silk sheets. This problem is not just indicative of LA, but all around the league. If LA doesn't find some heart they will have plenty of time to think about how to do it next year. And at this point it is exactly what they deserve.

Sincerely,
A concerned and disheartened lakers fan.