King Kaufman's Sports Daily

Only fools write off the Lakers. Plus: NHL playoffs all the time. And: The Smarty Jones bandwagon.

May 17, 2004 | I bet those fools who wrote off the Lakers after Game 2 of the Spurs series are really feeling silly now. What a bunch of boobs!

The lesson: Write off the Lakers at your peril. Yes, they're crazy. Yes, they seem to just turn it off and on at random, not an impossible strategy but a dangerous one.

But they also have the most dominant big man in the game, the player most able to take over a game single-handedly and, while two great players playing well are probably enough to win an NBA title, they also, incidentally and by the by, have a couple of future Hall of Famers. Faded ones, but still. Even a faded Karl Malone and Gary Payton can still do some things, especially on defense, to help a team win big games.

David Steele of the San Francisco Chronicle watched Games 5 and 6 of the Kings-Timberwolves series, and presumably both Eastern Conference semifinals, and wrote, "L. A. fans might as well avoid the rush and start overturning police cars right now."

I don't know if I'll go that far, because the Lakers are still weird, capable of not just losing to the Kings-Wolves Game 7 winner but also to the Eastern Conference champion and, let's face it, Coppin State on the right night. But I'll say again what I said before I foolishly proclaimed them dead last week: When the Big 4 are healthy, they're the team to beat.

The Kings and Timberwolves don't match up well against the Lakers. Neither has a big man who can handle Shaquille O'Neal and I don't think Latrell Sprewell or Doug Christie can stop Kobe Bryant on an inspired night. The Kings would stand a better chance because of the potential offensive explosiveness of Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic, but many wallets have been emptied by betting on the Kings over the Lakers in the last few years.

And please save your typing fingers before you compose that e-mail in which you inform me that both the Kings and T-Wolves went 3-1 against the Lakers during the regular season. A 3-1 regular-season record and a ticket will get you into the NBA Finals.

I got some e-mails last week complaining that I've been ignoring the Eastern Conference semis. For the record, the Pacers lead the Heat 3-2 and the Pistons and Nets are tied 3-3. I'm trying to stay interested, but the only team in the bunch that I think has a chance to beat any of the Western Conference teams is the Pacers, and I'm not even sure of that after watching them lose two games in Miami.

Then again, I vaguely remember being wrong about something recently.

Next page: Start the NHL playoffs in October. Plus: I got the Smarty fever!