Laker Playoff Hopes May Be a Done Deal

Watching the game Thursday night, I couldn’t help but think: Miami looks like the old Lakers and the new Lakers look like the Clippers.

Bob McCall

Chino Hills

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Every article about the Lakers brims with speculation about whether the Lakers will make the playoffs. Who cares? Does anyone seriously think they could survive the first round?

John Humble

Santa Monica

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Anyone who is surprised by the Lakers’ struggle to make the playoffs must be living in an alternate universe. Without a decent big man (let alone Shaq!) and the devastating coaching fiasco (no disrespect to an over-his-head Frank Hamblen), we’ve wound up with a team that’s in total disarray -- clueless on offense and pathetic on defense.

But loyal fans must not despair: With the right coaching hire and a couple of key acquisitions, the Lakers could be contenders again in three or four years -- five or six at the most.

Joel Rapp

Los Angeles

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This is a hideous basketball team. This is the worst defensive team in the history of the Lakers. Mitch Kupchak made one of the worst trades in sports history. Phil Jackson would have to be crazy to take this on.

Michel Kassett

Los Angeles

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After getting pummeled in consecutive games against mediocre Washington and Philadelphia, that voice the Lakers heard was Jim Mora Sr.’s: “Playoffs? What playoffs? Playoffs?”

Jonny Enriquez

Buena Park

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Now that he is quoting Ben Franklin, are we to assume that Kobe Bryant is finally acknowledging that basketball is a team sport?

Magic Johnson is right about the Lakers’ imperfections. Denver will beat the Lakers to the eighth playoff spot.

Too bad that the irony in this likely scenario will be lost on Bryant.

Jennifer Bell

Sacramento

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If Shaq would have run up and down the court when he was with the Lakers the way he runs his mouth in Miami, he would still be a Laker.

Jeff Calzada

Montebello

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Devean George.

Nothing else, I’m just wondering if you’re still willing to print his name.

Holly Lord

Summerland