Ouch! That Hurt...

After the Lakers struggled some, and looked relatively inconsistent in the initial couple weeks after Kobe's return from his ankle injury, they ran off seven straight wins. The first couple of those seven games weren't pretty, but they were wins. They started to play well again, as a team, and consistently enough that they reeled off seven straight wins.

Then they ran into a buzzsaw.

I didn't see any of last night's game, but I have to imagine from some of the score updates I saw that it was ugly. The score after three quarters was 80-47. In favor of Oklahoma City.

And for a change, Kobe had a lot to do with the 91-75 loss. He turned the ball over eight times. Seriously.

And it doesn't get any easier tonight. The Lakers are back at in the second of back-to-back games in Houston. Let's hope they don't have to call in any problems.

This team better get its act together when the playoffs arrive otherwise there won't be another parade through L.A. in June.

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A quick update: Andrew Bynum is expected to be back in action late next week after suffering a strained Achilles last week. And Luke Walton is inching closer to his return, as well.

The Big Tests

Well the Lakers passed one test, but miserably failed another. On Friday, they rolled all over Utah at Staples, 123-109. The game wasn't even that close. The Lakers had leads of 15, 27 and 32 after the first three quarters. The game was so out of hand, it prompted this quote by one of the Lakers' L.A. Times bloggers, Brian Kamenetsky, "A beatdown so thorough, AK had 12/5, and I had four blocks. The popcorn guy chipped in with 10, Jack yanked down a couple of boards, and that cute Laker Girl (you know, the brunette) managed a triple-double in only 14 minutes of play." The game really was that lop-sided. But the fun didn't last long.

On Sunday night, the C's rolled into town and rolled all over the Lakers, 110-91, who thought it'd be a cute idea to don their 80s replica unis. And I don't mean just the jersey. They donned those really short shorts in the first half (you know, the ones Magic, Kareem and "Big Game" James wore during the glory years in the 80s), essentially cutting off all their circulation and blood supply in their bodies. making them completely ineffective for 24 minutes. I must say though, Trevor Ariza went so far with it, it was that laughable. He added those knee-high socks and knee pads guys like Magic and Michael Cooper used to wear.

In any case, full throwback ensemble and all, it wasn't a pretty game to watch. The Kamenetsky Brothers, popcorn guy, Jack and the cute brunette Laker Girl were all non-factors, as were most of the Lakers.

Lakers are off until this weekend when Philly and Indy pay visits to Staples on Friday and Sunday nights, respectively, before heading off to Memphis early next week.