I’ve been a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers since I was in elementary school. More accurately, I’ve been a fan of Kobe Bryant since then- when he broke into the League. The Lakers as a franchise sucked me in with that first three-peat from 2000-2002. There were some epic playoff series during that run, and my cousin Brenden, my brother Oren and myself watched as many of those games as we could at my Grandparents house, when the games were on cable. We watched them wherever we could when they were on network TV.
We would also play basketball out in the driveway, trying to re-enact some of the games or moments. My brother would be Kobe, my cousin would be Shaq, and somehow, I would always get stuck playing Arvydas Sabonis, the Blazers center who developed a brief rivalry with Shaq during that 7 game Western Conference Finals in 2000 (LA actually played Portland in the playoffs each of those three years). As a side-note, I have stronger, fonder memories of those conference finals, and Western Conference playoffs in general, during that three-peat, than those finals themselves. The Portland Series and the Kings series are especially big for me.
Anyway, living in Mid-Missouri, the Lakers obviously don’t play on local TV. I can watch my St. Louis Cardinals and Blues, I can watch my Missouri Tigers, I can watch the Chiefs and the Rams. But, the Lakers? I’ve always had to catch them Sunday afternoons on ABC, or on TNT and ESPN nationally televised contests (or back in the day on NBC). With the advent of NBA League Pass, the ability to watch the Lakers home broadcasts has been within my reach, but I’ve never pulled the trigger. I've never pulled the trigger in part because of the cost, and in part, because-deep down- I knew what my buddy Caleb Barron recently said is partially true: “Too much NBA regular season basketball is bad for the soul.”
But...to heck with that. Kobe Bryant is back, he’s taking way too many shots, and moving around somewhat like Kobe of old. And I love watch Kobe "Bean" Braynt play basektball.
So, I’ve purchased NBA League Pass to watch, if I wish, every single one of those LA Lakers games. Most people question the decision, because if you follow the league at all, you know LA will be terrible this year. But, my thought process is that I don’t know how much longer Bean has, and I want to watch him as much as I can before he goes away. He is, after all, one of my all-time favorite athletes, and by miles my favorite basketball player. I’ll put up with some bad basketball to watch him. Besides, the Lakers play in the rugged, uber-deep Western Conference, so they’ll be playing quality opponents a lot.
So, my dear friends, I am going to (try to) keep you updated on my blog with how this experience is going. The series is the same as the title, “Late Nights with a Bad Team”.
It began two nights ago, the Lakers second game of the season (they played on TNT night one, so League Pass wasn’t necessary). The Lakers were playing for the second straight night, in Phoenix, on opening night for the Suns. After trailing the entire first half, the Lakers closed the gap, cutting the lead to 9 at the break. They got to within 6 twice, early in the 3rd quarter, and that’s when the wheels came off. It wasn’t close to competitive after that. Kobe ended up with 31 point on 25 shots, so he’s doing his thing, but the rest of this team is abominable. Unless Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin suddenly learn what defense is, and unless Wesley Johnson starts playing Pippen to Kobe’s Jordan, it won’t get any better from a team perspective this season. At least when Nick “Swaggy P” Young gets back, that’ll provide an extra jolt of entertainment. It won't make them better, really, just more fun.
Kobe didn’t play the 4th quarter, so I didn’t watch the 4th quarter. The Lakers were down 25 points to boot, so I wasn’t going to stay up the extra time to watch a team that’s a dumpster fire two days into the season.
Stay tuned, though! We’ve got the Clippers tonight! Halloween, baby.
