Top 7 Reasons Not to Panic at the Lakers’ Early Slump

The panic quotient is on the rise in Los Angeles after watching the Lakers get smoked in their last two games.  But before this rising tide of panic turns into a full blown tsunami, consider these seven reason why you shouldn’t worry about the Lakers’ early slump:

1. Pau is going to be healthy… eventually – Forgive me if I don’t accept it as gospel that Pau will be back this Thursday, but he will be back at some point and hopefully soon.  Even the best of teams are going to struggle without the services of their All-Star big man.  Adding Pau back to the starting line-up will not only make the Lakers more potent offensively, but it should resolve the bench issues as well with Odom heading back to his sixth man role.



Pau will finally get out of his civvies and on to the court in the near future.

2. Kobe is still Kobe – Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Kobe has a sore groin, isn’t shooting very well from long distance this year and seems to have fallen too in love with his post-up game.  Whatever.  He’ll be just fine.  Heck, he is still averaging 30 points per game.  After getting shutdown by the Rockets in the Lakers last game, don’t think for a minute that Kobe isn’t going to come out with a little extra motivation this week to prove that he isn’t hurt and/or struggling.  The Lakers could very well just ride that wave to a long winning streak.
3. Andrew Bynum is really good – … and sooner or later the rest of the team will recognize that and start getting him the ball.  A stark symptom of both of the Lakers’ recent losses was that the team failed to get the ball to Drew in the post even though he was having a great deal of success.  It is almost like they are still used to Bynum being some gimpy stiff and forgot that he is playing like an All-Star right now.



Get this man the damn ball!

4. Home cooking – The Lakers have a great opportunity to get themselves straightened out thanks to their cushy upcoming schedule.  Ten of their next eleven games are at home and the lone road game is against the dysfunctional Golden State Warriors.  The rest of the schedule is pretty soft as well with only three of the games coming against teams with winning records.  Beating up on some weak competition at home is the perfect way for the Lakers to work out their kinks.
5. Wake up call received – Did you really think the Lakers were going to go the whole season without hitting a bump in the road?  No, of course not.  Well, this is that bump.  Now they just need to react to it.  They can’t just coast to the playoffs and on through to the Finals.  It might take another game or two, but sooner or later the team is going to realize that they have to play hard every game.  A lot of the Laker issues are related to a general effort level on both ends of the floor, so realizing that you aren’t invincible should be enough to energize everyone and get them back to playing at the top of their game.
6. Artest is getting comfortable – Everyone knew it was going to take time to integrate Ron Artest into the fold and he is starting to show some signs of getting comfortable in the triangle offense and Laker defensive system.  If there was an overlooked aspect of the Houston loss it was that Artest had a very good offensive game.  Most nights, Ron-Ron’s offense will just be a bonus, but what they really need is for him to pick up the slack when Kobe is having an off night.  Artest did just that in the game.  Sure, it wasn’t enough, but it at least kept the Lakers in the game.



Ron Artest is slowly becoming one of the guys.

7. Not everyone on the bench is a bum – The bench has gotten a bad rap this season and for good reason, but not all of them are playing poorly, the problem is that it took 10 games for Phil to figure out which reserves to rely on.  It is pretty clear by now that Josh Powell and Shannon Brown are the only to reliable bench players right now.  Phil just needs to ride those two guys.  Keep the use of Sasha, Farmar and Mbenga to a minimum and go with Powell and Brown as much as possible and I think the bench will suddenly start looking pretty solid.

Tags: Analysis, Andrew Bynum, DJ Mbenga, Jordan Farmar, Josh Powell, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Sasha Vujacic, Shannon Brown