The Audacity Of Hope - Game 4 Review

I am speechless. Perplexed. Sad. Angry.

The second half took a combined thousands of years off of Laker fans and hundreds of hairs off of my head. I have no way to rationalize this loss. It is simply painful even to analyze.

Phil Jackson was out coached. He would have been even if the Lakers eeked out a victory. This entire year, the Lakers have been prone to what happened today, that is, letting teams back in, rather than putting the game away. Today, it cost us. It’s hard not to place some of the blame on Phil Jackson. The entire second half, the Lakers had poor spacing and/or lack of ball movement. The Lakers DO have a potent offense. However, it is not maximally effective, unless, there is a decent amount of off the ball cuts, or on the ball cuts. (a.k.a. penetration inside) One particular play stood out to me. The Lakers had all Odom at the top of the key, Farmar at the left wing extended and Sasha at the left sideline. All three were behind the 3 point line. This, while objectionable in itself as 3 players were space so poorly, was compounded by the ball being in the hands of Kobe who was at the right wing behind the three point line. No one cut. The Lakers did get lucky and got fouled, but Ronnie missed both. This will be a lasting example of the inability of the Laker offense to follow the basic tenets when struggling.

[I would like to note that I also angry at two specific plays. One on the late possession where Paul Pierce pulled a Manu and got the call from the official WHOSE VIEW WAS OBSTRUCTED. Honestly, perhaps a challenge system would not be so bad if refereeing is going to be so inconsistent and egregious. A second play that maddened me was the uncontested left handed lay up by Ray Allen. Where was the rotation? Where was Pau? Or Fisher? Simply disheartening to see such a remarkably bad breakdown so late in a game]

[Also, on a lesser note and more cheerful Jeff Van Gundy called Mike Breen, "Marv"]

This brings me to my last, and titular point. Regardless of the situation, we must hope. Hope is a basic human desire. Hope gives us strength. It gives strength to everyone that possesses it, from the immigrant that hopes for a better life to a fan who hopes for a better series. We must not lose strength nor belief until the very end if we are true. It is indeed possible for us to win 3 straight, although not very plausible. We must be as we want our team to be. The Lakers need to have heart and play with desperation and passion such that we may, at the least, avoid seeing the Celtics celebrate on our home floor after winning the Larry O’Brien trophy. It seems a bit inane to hope at this point, but hope we must, for how depressing would the world be without hope.