The Los Angeles Lakers schedule for the remainder of the 2010 season is packed with tough teams and a few short road trips. Their next long and challenging road trip before the playoffs wont come until the very end of March when they hit the road and play the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta before returning to the safe confines of the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles for two very tough late season games against San Antonio and Utah, one after the other.
The Lakers schedule looks tough but this is the end of the year, the time when Kobe Bryant and company lace up their sneakers and hit the hardwood knowing that the prize is just around the corner. This is the time of year when championship teams like the Lakers want to go on a winning streak and rack up the victories. They want to steamroll into the playoffs on a high note and do what they always do, smash the opposition. The Los Angeles Lakers have the playoff tested athletes to do just that and blast their way through the other playoff contenders to win their second straight NBA World Championship trophy.
Dr. Jerry Buss, the owner of this team and GM Mitch Kupchak have done a fine job over the past ten years keeping the Lakers as perennial favorites. They have loaded this team with fine talent. In the forecourt you have All-Star forward Pau Gasol from Spain who has never played better. He is tougher now than he was in May of 2008 when the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in the Finals and he was bullied around by their big men. His skill level has improved dramatically and he can now post up, defend, and basically do anything he wants to the opposition. It does not matter what team is next in line in the Lakers schedule, Pau Gasol is ready every night and appears to be stronger than ever and more determined to keep the ring on his finger.
The Lakers schedule does not get any easier in late February and they will have to play two tough games on the road, first at the Memphis Grizzlies and then on to face the emerging and always difficult Dallas Mavericks who are led by their All-Star forward Dirk Nowitski. After that they come home to play Philadelphia and then Denver. Denver is incredibly strong this year and their star Carmelo Anthony looks determined to win his first MVP while leading his team to the West Finals.
Soon thereafter they are back on the road for a week playing the Miami Heat, Charlotte, and then their biggest test, the Orlando Magic. Orlando faced them in the Finals last year and they look determined to make it back there again this year. Led by their Superman sized center Dwight Howard, the Magic are on a quest to defeat the Lakers, their hated rivals.
The Lakers schedule may seem too tough to handle, but experts and pundits around the country still predict that the defending champs will once again be hoisting the trophy when the dust settles.