Have the Lakers Turned the Corner?

After their narrow 112-111 loss in Dallas Wednesday night, the Lakers were grateful to return home. Not because they lost, but for a day off and some much needed rest.

The Lakers actually played a lot better than many thought they would. I for one figured they would lose by double figures. In fact they were down by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Playing against a well rested Spurs team that was at full strength and had three days rest, the Lakers had just finished with a close win in Houston the night before. To make matters worse, they have been playing with just an 8-man rotation for a couple of weeks.

After beating the Celtics without Jordan Farmar, it looked as though the Lakers had turned the corner. Then three more starters went down. Jordan Farmar with knee surgery, Luke Walton with a swollen big toe, and Sasha Vujacic with back spasm’s. Lamar Odom only came back this week from knee bruise.

To make matters worse, point guard Derek Fisher had to sit out most of the fourth quarter of the Spurs game with a tweaked groin muscle. Still the Lakers closed the gap and actually had the lead on a Kobe Bryant three-pointer, 111-109

But with 10 seconds left, Roger Mason drove down the lane for a tying basket, and Derek Fisher fouled him in the process. Mason made his free throw to give the Spurs the winning margin.

Trevor Ariza was hit with a controversial traveling call with 0.8 seconds left to ice the victory for the Spurs. Phil Jackson said he thought Ariza was tripped. But in the end it didn’t matter what the Lakers coach thought. It still gets notched up in the loss column.

Normally, Kobe Bryant will take that last second, game-winning shot. But this time, Bryant elected to feed Ariza in the hopes that he might get the acolades. Mistake. From now on, you better believe Bryant will put the game in his own hands.

Of the seven games that they have lost, four have come in the last seconds of games. The Lakers could just as well be 35 and 3.

It is amazing that the Lakers have done as well as they have winning 10 of their last 12 games with the injury bug devastating their ranks. Both Fisher and Kobe Bryant have logged way too many minutes on the floor.

Nevertheless, they will be glad to get back to Staples Center if for no other reason than Luke Walton intends to be available. That should expand their rotation to nine players.

Once Vujacic comes back that will take some of the pressure off of Bryant and Fisher. Jordan Farmar, however, is still at least a month away from returning.

Although it is uncertain if the Lakers have truly turned the corner, tonight’s game with the Orlando Magic will go a long way to proving if Andrew Bynum has turned the corner or not.

Over the past dozen games, Bynum has acquitted himself very well, averaging just under 18 points. He has a 12.9 average so far for the season.

However, when they played the Magic in Orlando just about a month ago, Dwight Howard was an absolute beast. He not only embarrassed Bynum, he shamed him scoring 18 points and collecting 12 rebounds while holding Bynum to just 3 points and only 1 rebound.

Despite Bynum’s poor play, that game was one of the Lakers’ four last minute losses, 106-103. The Lakers and Bynum hope to turn things around tonight.