Broken Dreams


"All I can do is do the work. And do everything I can to be back at the highest level." -Kobe Bryant

Last season, the Lakers were expected to be the Western Conference favorites. The team had Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, to go with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. They were supposed to dominate the league. But it didn't happen.

When Bryant blew his Achilles tendon near the end of the regular season, any glimmer of championship hope faded away. The Lakers were a failure and a disappointment. The team was bounced in the first round of the playoffs, and then in the off-season the team was broken up.

Heading into this season, pundits thought the Lakers would be a disaster. Howard is in Houston. Nash is still injured. Kobe was coming back from injury. The team was a patchwork and the prediction was they'd finish 12th in the Western Conference.

Publicly Kobe Bryant scoffed at that projection. And as the season began — and the upstart Lakers went 10-9 without Bryant — that looked accurate. Kobe made his season debut on December 8, and people started to believe the Lakers were playoff contenders.

In the six games since his return, the Lakers went 2-4 and struggled to acclimate. It's not fair to totally blame Kobe, who had to move to Point Guard since Nash, Steve Blake, and Jordan Farmar — all point guards — are also out with injuries. Then disaster struck again, as Kobe Bryant suffered a fracture in his left knee, sidelining him again for at least six weeks.

It's clear that, even when Kobe Bryant comes back, it will be a lost season for the Lakers. The team will struggle to stay around .500, has been ravaged with injuries, and will likely be rebuilding in the off season. A season that started with surprise promise is starting to fade away.

Kobe Bryant wants to get a sixth championship — a mark that would match Michael Jordan — but as the years and injuries pile up, that dream begins to fade. With the crack of a knee bone, the Lakers are already looking toward next season.

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