<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">By Dr. Jack Ramsay Special to ESPN.com The still proud Los Angeles Lakers are 21-9 and find themselves behind Sacramento (playing so far without Chris Webber) in second place in the Pacific Division. So what's the big deal, you ask? The Lakers will play well enough to have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, then pull it together in the later rounds and win another championship -- their fourth in five years. Not to worry. But that's not quite what NBA followers were saying before the season began. The Fab Four Future Hall of Famers (Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Gary Payton and Karl Malone), plus young, promising Devean George, gave the Lakers a starting lineup that some expected would break the Bulls' record of 72 regular-season wins. The team was brilliant in a rout of Dallas on opening night, even though Bryant didn't play, and went on to win 18 of its first 21 games. Corey Maggette, like most Laker opponents these days, got a clear path to the hoop in Clips' win Sunday. Now the Lakers have lost four of their last five -- to the Clippers, Seattle, Houston and Golden State, no less -- and allowed an average of 104.5 points a game in the process. They're without Shaq (strained calf) and Malone (strained knee) for an undetermined period and begin a back-to-back road trip Tuesday at Minnesota and Wednesday at Denver. Both of those teams are chomping at the bit at the thought of facing the depleted Lakers in their home arenas.</div> Full Article Article is a few days old, but I just found it. :mrgreen:
