Over the past few weeks I, as well as Los Angeles fans and analysts alike, have worried about the recent performance put forth by the Lakers and the lack of aggressiveness in the first half.
The Mavericks posed as the first major example to prove whether or not the Lakers were just in a short slump because of the loss of Ron Artest (12.1 PPG), or if Los Angeles has a lot of problems to evaluate before the playoffs.
My largest concern of late has been the lack of bench contribution by the Lakers supporting cast, and the large amounts of minutes that the starters have been playing in Los Angeles. This may too be a factor of the loss of Artest, who constantly relieves Kobe of defensive pressure, but only time will tell the answer.
Without a bench, the Lakers will not only fall short of their championship goal in 2010, but may risk injury to their glorified starting five.
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Article written by John Engel