Currently, the Los Angeles Lakers aren't doing well at all. With almost 60 games left, they are 9-14. They are 9.5 games back from the best ranked team in the West, Oklahoma City. They are 2-8 on the road and lost 7 out of their last 10 games. Although it very early in the season, we must remember that when a team gets behind in the Western conference, it's hard to catch up. All of the teams ahead of the Lakers are playing well, with exceptions of the Denver Nuggets and the Portland Trailblazers.
If none of that sounds tragic to you, under Mike D'Antoni, the Lakers have allowed teams to score 40 or more points in one quarter -- four times. They lost to the New York Knicks, without Carmelo Anthony for parts of the 3rd and all of the 4th quarter. And let's face it, when you have all the right pieces, and they aren't clicking, blame it on the coach. Mike D'Antoni should have never been hired and it is safe to say that this will get worse. Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, John Calipari, Roy Williams, Rick Pitino, Bob Huggins would all do a better job than D'Antoni. Better yet, Flip Saunders would do a better job. In 1,147 games, he's won 55 percent of the games he coached. In 739 games, D'Antoni has won 53 percent of them and has never coached in a finals game. Are the Lakers sure they want to stick with D'Antoni?
Brian Kamenetzky, says in his article, "Rapid Reaction: Knicks 116, Lakers 107." On ESPNLosAngeles.com:
Right now, the Lakers are a legitimately bad team, and as a result, on top of their problems with personnel, they have a problem with belief. There is zero confidence in what they're doing offensively.
Kamenetzky went on to argue:
Over the past three full NBA seasons, the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference has averaged 48 wins. The Lakers, now 9-14 following Thursday's 116-107 fraternity-style paddling at the hands of the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, would have to go 39-20 to get there. That's a .661 winning percentage, the equivalent of a 54-win pace over a full season.
If that's not enough Kamentzky went further and stated, "Already the Lakers have taken giant bites out of their season's allotment of margin for error, particularly when considering this was supposed to be the easy portion of the 2012-2013 schedule." If the Lakers miss the playoffs, it would be the sixth time in all of franchise history. It would also be the first time since the 2004-2005 season. Will the Lakers make it?