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The Los Angeles Lakers’ 102-87 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers was an embarrassing defeat that revealed all of LA’s major flaws, many of them, the same flaws that doomed their quest to win a championship in 2007-2008. The Lakers interior rotations were soft or non-existent. It appeared as if Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum were scared of Shaquille O’Neal’s and LeBron James’ boulder-crushing strength.That Bynum was lost and confused on defense—offering no resistance on off-ball screens, late in his help assignments, gambling and missing entry passes—is simply par for the course for the mistake-prone youngster. However, Gasol played defense like a timid rookie, a characteristic not seen since the Lakers’ humbling Finals defeat to the Celtics two postseasons ago.Bynum (2-5 FG, 4 PTS and Gasol 4-11 FG, 11 PTS) were visibly bothered by the Cavs’ size and length up front. Without the overall length advantage the Lakers normally have, Bynum and Gasol were pushed around under the hoop, and Gasol couldn’t find the range on his jumper.Kobe Bryant forced a number of shots and passes and couldn’t find easy baskets against Cleveland’s collapsing defense. Worse, Kobe let his frustrations get the best of him by complaining to the referees on every call that didn’t go his way.The Lakers spent more time complaining to the refs than rotating on defense.Derek Fisher—3-8FG, 1-4 3FG, 0 AST, 3 TO, 7 PTS—looked ready for the glue factory.The Lakers got nothing from their bench. Lamar Odom was invisible for too many stretches, Shannon Brown was lit up on defense, Jordan Farmar forced two shots and couldn’t keep up with Mo Williams and Delonte West, and both of Sasha Vujacic’s field goals came deep in garbage time.If Lamar Odom isn’t playing well, the Lakers simply don’t have enough firepower from their second unit to beat elite teams. Farmar hasn’t taken the next step in his development, and Vujacic wets the bed. The Lakers needs production from their second unit that nobody is giving.The Lakers spent too much time playing one-on-one basketball, and didn’t trust the offense to generate open looks.The Lakers’ scrambling defense was picked apart by Cleveland’s snappy passwork, well-timed cuts attacking the middle of the paint, and skip passes across the paint. The Cavs never stopped passing, but the Lakers often stopped playing defense.The Lakers were also beaten backdoor far too frequently with little backside help.Ron Artest did an effective job against LeBron James‘ on the ball, but couldn’t keep up with James off of weak-side curls. To make matters worse, the Lakers’ bigs made only cursory efforts to show on James after the cuts.Derek Fisher was posted and toasted by Mo Williams on three occasions.The Lakers, used to bullying opponents with their extreme size and length, looked scared to face an opponent that could stand toe-to-toe with them up front. Cleveland’s massive frontline of Shaq, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao, and LeBron played extremely well, particularly on the defensive end.The only Laker who played with any sort of zest was Artest who wrestled for every loose ball (on one occasion going toe-to-toe for an offensive rebound with James and leaving his highness on the floor), operated the triangle as if he’d been playing in the system for years, attacked mismatches by posting in transition, and playing commendable defense. Too bad he missed three free throws and was guilty of loafing down the court in transition at least once.The Lakers collectively lost their cool way too easily.What was the best thing to take away for the Lakers? They couldn’t possibly play any worse. In many regards, the game was the first real challenge the Lakers have faced all season. With an extremely generous home schedule, the Lakers have coasted to the top spot of the NBA standings, but before the Cavs game, they hadn’t faced the Cavs, Celtics, Magic, or Spurs this year, and lost to the Nuggets and Mavs by double digits. Needless to say, their first test against one of the Eastern Conference behemoths was a resounding failure. On the other side, being tested so few times early means that the Lakers will have plenty of opportunities to right the ship as the season continues. However, don’t simply count the Lakers as the best team in basketball because of their record. If they prove over the next few months that Pau Gasol will play more like the 2009 version than the 2008 version, Andrew Bynum will show up against the better offenses, Kobe won’t jack up bad shots when the going gets tough, Lamar Odom will play consistently well, the Lakers bench provides something (anything), and Derek Fisher reverses the aging process, then the Lakers are the favorite to win a second straight title. But if not, and the Lakers play more like their 2008 selves than their 2009 versions, then any talented, physical, mentally strong team will be prime to dethrone the Lakers and proclaim a new king.

Isn't it 46 million people without it? And it depends who you ask, and what source. On MSNBC I've watched shows where they say 60% of the country wants it, and I've watched shows on FOX News when they say 35% want it...so, really, I could care less about the numbers - doesn't matter what your political stance is, every politician has admitted to it being a crisis...the approach to fix the problem is obviously different in their ideaology, which is fine, but you're pretty much retarded if you can't recognize the problem.

The game didn't turn out as great as I expected it to be, though it's still good for what it is. There are a lot of minor things they should have fixed, but it's still easily the best basketball video game ever made so far. 8/10 for me, though it could have actually been closer to 10/10 if they had fixed all of the minor issues. 1. Association mode isn't drastically different from 2k9, actually, but there are some additions and adjustments. You can play D league games now. Stats are more realistic. Player ratings range from 25-99 now instead of 50-99 in 2k9, plus a lot more depth all of the player's individual attributes. Other than that, not too much differences. There is a live practice thing where you can practice plays, post moves, and whatnot. That's honestly about it. There's more to the mode than that, but those are the only actual differences in 2k10 from 2k9 association. 2. I won't be able to name every single positive and negative off the top of my head, but I'll give you a few at least. - New fatigue bar keeps your fingers from being glued to the right trigger. - Players are pretty much customized individually. Kobe will play like Kobe. - Small things, like players will fumble passes at appropriate times. - Artificial intelligence is very, very solid. Move around the court, and watch as the players move and respond around you. - Defensive rotations can be iffy depending on the team you use, but the defensive AI is also solid overall. - Opponents will regularly run plays and isolations, and of course you can do them yourself, or set it to where the plays are called for you. - There is a better sense of physical presence. It's not perfected, but it's at least there. - There are some negatives with some of the gameplay, but I suppose they can be opinionated. IMO, I think the game makers need to drop on-ball steal animations completely, or at least make it a deal of timing rather than a deal of percentages based on player ratings. Also, lead passes to the basket are too difficult to defend, stealing and deflecting passes need work. Those are two issues off the top of my head. 3. It's a fun mode that really separates this game from live. Some people say it's repetitive, but it hasn't been that way for me, although it isn't perfect. I'm not going to explain it so much as to just give you a couple pointers. Play realistically and you'll get a good grade (grading system is actually done well overall, though it's too easy, IMO). Your grade doesn't determine whether you'll make or break a cut, by the way, I think a lot of people make this mistake. You have to outplay your specific matchup. This will save you from playing too many D-League games, or any at all. Playing in the d-league too much is normally where most people complain of repetitiveness. There are two negative factors that still haven't been fixed in an online patch, and they are pretty big. One is that even though you can adjust the quarter time, you can't change the difficulty. I believe it's default set to "all star" (which is like medium), and it makes the game too easy for low rated players to score 20 or get a triple double. Also, substitutions are very iffy, especially late in games. The "insider" can get glitchy, also. Just a warning. Overall, despite these few setbacks, it will probably be the mode you will enjoy the most. Don't try to make it to the NBA all in one day, or it will get repetitive. 4. It's good you don't play online much, cause that's where the biggest problems with 2K are. Offline play is by far the best. The hardest difficulty should always give you a good challenge. So there's a damn review for yea, haha. I didn't mean to write so much. I guess I got carried away after I started.

Come on man dont make excuses, just face the fact that the Cavs came into Staples tonight up a first class woopass on you guys. Take the loss like a man.

Like the title said. Karma is a [expletive].

I usually hate when people use the word "epic", but this is [expletive]ING EPIC!

To summarize, Big Chief Triangle hates Lebron. Kobe is king. /endthread

they're funny and entertaining. get over it... if you really dont like them, dont watch them.

They tried to treat them as rivals but it blew up in their face when Bron got popped by Dwight in the Conference Finals.