Circus Over: Spurs Sweep Lakers

No chance, no chance in hell. The Lakers' season came to an end, concluding one of the most frustrating seasons ever in Laker history. Pau Gasol was the Lakers' top performer with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, but regardless, it doesn't matter as the Spurs just picked apart the Lakers again in a 103-82 sweeping in the first round and they were not even trying. Andrew Goudelock finished with 14 points and Chris Duhon and Antawn Jamison lead the bench with 12 points from Jamison and 11 points from Duhon. Only positive, Kobe Bryant, weeks after a successful surgery on his achilles, received a standing ovation from the Staples Center crowd as he joined the team on the bench. The question mark after this game is Dwight Howard. After purposely getting himself ejected and giving Mitch Kupchak an earful of words, has he played his last as a Laker?

Final Score: PLAYOFFS 1st round gm. 4 SA 103 LAL 82 SA Advances 4-0 [E]
Full recap: http://www.nba.com/games/20130426/SASLAL/gameinfo.html

Highlights

Final Word: 9-17, that's our win-loss column in the playoffs since 2011. If there was a sequel to the Lakers 2003-2004 season, it would be this, but with the same people who created the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles writing the script. This season was full of as much drama and tragedy than any other Laker season in history, key injuries, the firing of Mike Brown, ditching Phil Jackson for Mike D'Antoni, the passing of Dr. Jerry Buss, Kobe Bryant not probably being the same player after the achilles injury, Dwight Howard's questionable commitment to the team, and above all lack of chemistry. Looking ahead, the future is looking bleak considering the high payroll and luxury tax the organization is gonna have to pay to the league and the lack of draft picks hmmm... doesn't this sound familiar? This sounds like the Raiders salary cap situation and depleted draft picks in 2012. We gave up a lot of picks to get an aging Steve Nash, then more draft picks down the drain to get Dwight Howard. Very similar to how we gave up a lot to acquire Carson Palmer in 2011 and put ourselves in salary cap hell. Well the Lakers are gonna have to undergo what the Raiders are currently doing now, rebuilding. With absolutely no cap space to sign a free agent and no 1st round picks, the Lakers have screwed themselves over meaning no choice but to do a fire sale, get unproven free agents, amnesty people here and there, and letting people walk. If Dwight doesn't re sign, Kobe and Nash retire, and Gasol gets amnestied, sorry to say my fellow Laker fans, but even the greatest  of franchises has to be under the basement and become the laughing stock of the league until they can become contenders again. Just ask the Celtics, Knicks. Fortunes have changed in LA now that the Clippers are officially the alpha dog in that city. No matter, we must endure and good things happen to those who wait, even if it is for a long time.