Did the Lakers just give up?  Fear the Clippers would beat them?
610523
No the Lakers didn't give up, they are just plain dumb to have Kobe in their line up...And the most important thing is that the Phoenix Suns is better than the Lakers. Phoenix has great teamwork unlike Lakers who is all Kobe ball hogging plays. Well he is not MJ my God!!!! He can't do everything by his own. Look at Steve Nash, great distributor of ball and with that he is the MVP! TWO STRAIGHT YEARS!!! Kobe can't do that, can't even win the award once. Well Nash is really better than rest. He is the best actually. Lakers being afraid of the Clippers? Nope. The Lakers can beat the Clippers but not the Phoenix Suns. That's the story of it. If the Lakers faced the Clippers in the first round then it would be possible that they advance to the second round and face maybe Phoenix. But it happened the other way around and they faced Phoenix in the first round that is why they can't go to the second round. Too bad Phil Jackson's record in the playoffs was ruined by Kobe Bryant...Go Phoenix!!!
31166
It is a good chance if they can make a trade for a big man. Kobe is frustrated and it shows. The way to the playoffs is with the kid handlin' the biz. Next year is definitely a possibility with so many going free agent, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, some guy named Lebron and the wonder kid, Flash Dwayne Wade. We got money coming and we plan on spendin'
843470
It's too early to tell!!!   We'll have to see when Kobe gets back if Odom can continue producing like he has in these past 2 games. The Lakers will reach the playoffs though, i'll guarantee that much!!!!
1185501
No, the Lakers would not have been 0-82.  At the NBA level, all of the players are so good, that they would have at least partially compensated for Kobe not being there.  Lamar Odom, Smush Parker, and even Kwame Brown would have stepped up.  I believe they would have won about 28-32 games without the Kobe-ster.
690461
After the tank-job they pulled at the tail-end of the regular season, they deserve a slap or two on the wrist, but that's beside the point.\n\nCan they do it? Win the series? Sure. They're almost done w/the Nuggets anyhow.\n\nBeyond that, I don't care, but I doubt they could beat the Lakers-Suns winner, Spurs-Mavs winner that awaits whichever conference opponent left standing, etc etc.\n\nCan the Clippers do it?\n\nIn a word buddy: Nope.
539840
Should be a very interesting series, very tough to pick a team. Clippers should give Suns a better battle. I know it's hard to say since Lakers took the Suns to 7 games but that was a joke. I think the Clippers will win
223099
I think this means that there are signs of the playoffs for the Lakers. I always knew they could do it- it just takes team effort. If Lamar Odom posts numbers like those every night, the Lakers are going to be contenders, no matter what. Look at the stats- we shot .506 from the field, and we held Detroit to shooting .432 from the field. So what if Smush didn't score double-digits. So what if the Lakers had more turnovers, fouls? Kwame Brown did a great job on Rasheed in the second-half, and Kobe did a great job fending off Tayshaun and limiting Chauncey to only 4 second-half points. We had our rebounder- 12 from Kwame. Our assister- 10 from Odom, and our 2 scorers- 40 from none other than Kobe, and 24 from Odom. We outplayed them and outdid them in the second half. Now this is nothing to celebrate about. It's a big win for the Lake-show, but if they obsess over it, tonight's game vs. the Spurs is going to kill us. We need to play the same way we did against the Pistons in our game against the Spurs. People like Brian Cook and Devean George chipping in, they may not make a big difference, but enough to show some flashes of brilliance. The Lakers need teamwork to win- and once we have that, I'm sure that they can win the Finals. Give it some time- they'll do it. Go Lakers, and keep up the good work.
1154875
YES THE LAKERS WIIILLL DO IT! Look at all their talent that has room for improvement, espeically in the post: Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown, Ronny Turiaf, Andrew Bynum, Smush Parker, Sasha Vujacic... Then they always have KOBE! If they work out a deal for KG, they're gonna do even better. Lakers all the way next season!
223745
I think that the Lakers- after the Pistons and the Hornets and the Spurs- are finally playing like a team. Sure- they are getting 40 from Kobe every once in a while, but he is their superstar. Odom has been red-hot, and Smush along with a few other bench players have been doing great to give them the win. They finally realize team ball is the key. And they have taken 7th seed, 1.5 behind Memphis for 6th. The #1 thing best to do in the second half of the NBA season is heat up and go hard down the stretch of the last 30 games to make a playoff spot. You'll see- the Lakers are for real now. They've always been on and off- but I think that they all have finally realized that it's not giving it to Kobe. Kwame helps in the post, defense and offense both. Smush is a scorer, Lamar is an all-around and Kobe is the super-star. I think that the Lakers can go all the way- no joke. They've beat the Mavs, Spurs, Pistons, Heat, Clippers, but we still have the Suns. Let's go Lakers.
516328
because lakers went up 3-1 in the series and since the team lacks playoff expeirence they got over confident and didnt try as hard and kobe cant beat a team with the skill of the suns by himself thats why..Go Clippers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
645444
YES!!! ITS ALL ABOUT THE LAKERS: AND THE CLIPPERS!!!!\n\n\nLOS ANGELES LOVE!!!!! BABY!!!!!!
439797
Just saw the highlights in ESPN and NBA.com.  They Lakers played great.  Kobe scoring 30 in the 1st half, to put the them up by 6 prior to halftime and scored only 1 pt. when they blew the game wide open.\n\nLamar was also great, having a triple-double and Kwame... played his potential.  15 pts and 15 caroms.\n\nIf they continue to play like this, who knows... they can pull an upset in the playoffs.
369364
The Lakers are playing the best basketball in the league right now.  If Kobe can continue to keep his teammates involved and they can continue to play as well as they have there is a good possibility they could be hoisting the championship trophy this June.  They just need to keep getting Kwame brown the ball inside and letting Smush Parker keep breaking people down in the lane and kicking out ala Steve Nash.  They are certainly beating the Suns at their own game offensively and stopping them on defense.
555190
i think the population of LA is so big that it can support both teams.  the people that support the clippers are probably those who couldn't get tickets to see the lakers.  i used to like the clippers.  for the last 5 years they have been doing fairly decent.  if they were in the east they would have made it to the playoffs a while ago.  its because they are in the west where teams with .500 aren't even guaranteed a spot.\n\nthey have always had some good players too and high draft picks.  if you are a fan of the sport you would have probably went to see Lamar Odom, Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson back when they were on the team.
580529
lol lol lol lol !!\n\nyeah !!!\n As TNT has it, Look like the lakers has gone fishin!!
951869
Bottom half of the Playoff bracket again. If Kobe will put some trust into his teammates, next season they cold break into the top half. They could sneak into the second round this year.
738208
It may be Kobe, but only because he won't pass the ball. The Lakers will either lose in the first round of the playoffs or not make it at all. There best hope to do well is if Kobe doesn't come back at all.