The worst loss in LA sports history?

The title of this post is the question Steve Hartman asked when he opened up the "Loose Cannons" show on AM 570 KLAC radio.


I'm not going to go into excruciating detail of the game, or post any links, mainly due to how painful this loss is for me, and I don't want to go through my sports clippings for fear of reliving the game. It is also pretty obvious how the Lakers lost this lead.

No one in Laker land is waking up happy this morning. If you are like me, you probably lost a little sleep over the loss last night. I categorize this loss as one of the top 3 most painful losses I can remember. One that should have tied the series at 2-2, has swung the opposite way and now the Lakers have a close to impossible task of coming back from a 3-1 hole. On a night when LO stepped up and did exactly what he needed to do, the rest of the Lakers, including Kobe, couldn't come through. With the Lakers leading at 24 points at one point in the game and 18 at the half, everyone was getting ready to call this thing a best-of-3. Now, the series has shifted to a do-or-die for the Lakers every game. The Lakers were playing so well, Kobe had only scored 3 points off of free throws and didn't log his first field goal until midway through the third. The defensive switch to put Pierce on Kobe undoubtedly bothered him, but it was shaky Laker defense, and clutch Celtic offensive that put this one away late in the 4th.

When asked how one gets over a loss such as this, Kobe said that a lot of drinking and whining should be involved. I don't doubt that every Purple and Gold faithful felt a little need to take Kobe up on his suggestion. The Celtics will take Kobe up on his suggestion soon, but it will be after they seal the series with their fourth win.

Pierce and KG started out very slowly, but they eventually found their groove soon enough to save the game. The box score shows that both teams played an evenly matched game. I guess that is true if you count two lop-sided halves by each team. The box score does not reflect the jumpshot by Eddie House to put the Celtics up for the first time in the game with about 2 minutes left in the game. The box score does not reflect Ray Allen's cross-over and uncontested layup. The box score also does not reflect Posey's devastating 3pter from the corner to pretty much seal the game.

Here is what the Lakers need to do to try and salvage this huge hole. The numbers are heavily against them. 28 teams have fallen behind 3-1 in the Finals and exactly 0 have come back from such a situation. The Lakers need to play 3 flawless games in a row because anything less will mean a 17th banner in Boston. Kobe must put this "he's not MJ criticism" behind him and move on to Game 5 and have a huge game. All these criticisms of Kobe will go away if he leads the Lakers through the seemingly impossible. A flawless game for the Lakers starts at the defensive end for 48 minutes, the specification of 48 minutes is usually a given, but the Lakers don't seem to remember that this series. Pau Gasol and some of the Laker guards were slow or just missed roatations. The Lakers were straight up outplayed in the second half of that game, hands down. If they want to stay alive, they are going to have to put together an entire 48 minute game on both ends of the floor. If the Lakers can limit the role players from stepping up big, they can focus more energy on the offensive end. Game 4 was LO's time to finally step up, the Lakers are in need of Gasol and Odom to show up together in the same game.

The Lakers embarassed the city of Los Angeles last night. They can make up for it, at the very least, by forcing a Game 7, even better, winning the championship. We can only hope. No team has ever overcome a 21point lead in the first during the Finals, so you could make the argument that the Lakers are due to overcome their deficit. The Lakers are filling our lives with drama, we just don't know if we are on the brink of this fairytale season being shattered, or if they are going to write us the perfect ending.

"You must die completely in order to be reborn."-Vic 'The Brick' Jacobs quoting the Buddhist religion. Hopefully, the Lakers died completely in Game 4. That is all we can hope for.

Izzy