<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">When you listen to the Lakers, it makes you wonder if they are trying to sell their public a bill of goods. "We can still make the playoffs," Kobe Bryant said, once again. Caron Butler said: "We have the talent to be in the playoffs." Lamar Odom said: "This team can make the playoffs." Why should anybody believe them? What it sounds like is a sell job, and no smart person should be willing to buy this stuff. It would be a bad investment. It is looking more and more like the Lakers will find themselves in Lottery Land. True, the Lakers aren't out of the playoffs, and they can still reach the postseason. It's just that the Lakers are 2 ? games behind the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, and they are playing some of their worst basketball of the season with 17 games left. The Lakers have lost four straight games, and tonight at Staples Center they play the Seattle SuperSonics, a team they have lost to twice this season. The Lakers then hit the road again, with games at Utah on Tuesday night and an all-important, perhaps season-altering, game at Denver on Thursday night. The Nuggets have won 10 of their past 11 and are in the middle of a seven-game homestand that ends with games against the Milwaukee Bucks (a sub-.500 team), the Wizards, Lakers (a sub-.500 team) and Kings. And Lakers fans are expected to buy what their beloved players are offering? Oh, yeah, by the way, Odom, who suffered a strained left shoulder Friday night, is listed as very doubtful for tonight's game. He was examined by team doctor Steven Lombardo on Saturday and will have an MRI today to determine the extent of the injury. Love them or not, it would not be wise to buy this junk. Bryant always talks about challenges. Well, he's got the biggest of his professional basketball life. "It's a bigger hill now being that we're another game behind," Bryant said. "But it's not insurmountable. You know that." No, it's not, but the Lakers haven't played solid basketball all season. Why would that suddenly change? They give up 100 points on a regular basis, and if you don't play any defense in the NBA, you reduce your chances of winning. </div> Source
