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There is always a possibility that an upset can happen. It is no different with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers who are currently tied with the Denver Nuggets in their best of seven Western Conference Finals series at one game game apiece have a chance like every other team to lose.
After losing to the Boston Celtics last year, the Lakers are looking for redemption. Lets overview their past couple of seasons.
Ever since the Lakers traded Shaq to the Miami Heat in the summer of of 2005, the Lakers had been struggling not making the playoffs the year Shaq left, and getting eliminated two years in a row in the first round to the Suns. They went a combined 121-125 Win/Loss record since they traded Shaq.
To make things worse, Kobe Bryant was supposedly demanding trades if the Lakers team did not show signs of improvement. Bryant said on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York: “I would like to be traded, yeah. Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there’s no other alternative, you know?”
“[The Lakers] obviously want to move in a different direction in terms of rebuilding,” Bryant said, adding he could have opted to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers or Chicago Bulls instead. “Three years ago when I was re-signing they should have told me they wanted to rebuild.”
As the 2007-2008 season began, the Lakers started off great with Kobe Bryant leading the way with the breakout star Andrew Bynum. The Lakers had everything going for the until Bynum went down with an injury against Memphis. Things were even worse as Trevor Ariza, Luke Walton and Chris Mihm were all injured.
The Lakers then went 3-8 without Bynum in the lineup. Once again, the Lakers seemed for disaster and possibly drama from Kobe Bryant if they did not make the playoffs, or not advancing past the first round as Bynum was ruled out until the post-season was over.
Then the miracle came. A PF/C came.
Pau Gasol arrived in Hollywood.
Check out the rest of this article over on Bleacher Report.com.
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