LA vs Oklahoma: Kobe and company must stop the Dragon now.

Posted by: SPQR on Mar 28, 2012 - 06:41 PM
lakers-blog

According to the Golden Legend, long, long ago, in the Libyan town of Seline a voracious dragon terrorized the population. First fed sheep by the populace, this soon failed to quell the monsters hunger and the town’s people had to give up their children, chosen by lottery to try slake the creatures demands for food.

Fortunately, right when the Kings daughter had been picked by the lottery, Saint George passed by and took up the cause, stepping forth and eventually slaying the beast and freeing the population from the terror.

And now, in the Western Conference, so exists a similar beast sowing destruction discord in the land. This dragon is the Oklahoma Thunder. With the best record in the west, the team is trampling opposition and defeating the strongest teams in the league on their march to a stellar season.

We have faced the dragon before, in its own lair and lost. Now it comes to the doorstep of our town to show us there is no hope in resistance, no fight that can repel it.

And like Saint George, it is up to our team to step forth and slay the monster before al l is lost.

I don’t usually put much stock in individual games during the season. But once in a great while, when certain variables come into play, when certain teams meet at a certain time with both sides understanding the implications of win or a loss, I put tremendous stock in the outcome.

And this is one of those rare games. We all know the situation. What is at stake. So do the Lakers and Thunder. Nobody is blind or oblivious to just what this game means. For the Thunder, it Is to reaffirm, in our home court, in your land, our country, where we are strongest, that they can beat us any which way they choose, no matter the surroundings. The implications clear: We are better. We are the now. You are the past. One of us is going to the finals and it’s not going to be you. It’s going to be us. So don’t even dream about it because we will make your nightmare. It is nothing short of a battle of the passing of the torch. To prove our loss to Dallas last year was no aberration, but just the inevitable result of the end of an era.

For the Lakers, it is just to prove the opposite. Two show the addition of Sessions has placed up on a much more equal footing with Oklahoma….at least in Lakers country. And even more important, to show that this team can come together and win the most meaningful game imaginable against our biggest Western rival. For the Lakers, time is running out. The day draws toward an end. It is time for this team to stop playing in an erratic fashion, take a step up on both sides of the court, beat Oklahoma and finish the season like a team that can win a championship. Because if they can’t do these two things, this dragon story will not have a happy ending unless you happen to be rooting for the dragon.

There is no more time for theory, examination, and introspection. If this team is really going to be a championship contender in fact and not just Lakers fans minds, this game against Oklahoma is the start. And if we lose, at home, to this dragon, it is only a precursor to the bigger Lakers feast the Thunder beast will engorge itself on come playoff time.

Make no mistake, have no illusions, this game will tell us in no uncertain terms exactly what we can expect, where the true hopes for our teams possible fate will fall. A chance to slay the dragon again, down the road, or just another sacrifice to its hunger as it heads toward its final, lethal confrontation with the east’s own particular dragon.

And so the dragon is here, outside our city gates waiting in shadow for that moment of deadly ingress that will allow it to destroy and raze our home town redoubt and devour what it hates and loathes and wants to utterly deracinate….us.

If you listen closely, you can hear its harsh, deep breath. You can feel the ground tremble to its growls. You can smell the burnt offerings of its flaming lungs. You can see its predatory eyes when the light of the moon hits them just so. You can see its other victims blood slowly dripping from sharp claws. And you know it wants our blood next. Our home town blood. And you know, this is not just another opponent, not merely another game. It is life and death. One of those rare times.

And so our own Saint George: Kobe, Pau, Drew, Metta, Sessions-all the Los Angeles Lakers -must venture forth to try and stop it from entering the city gates. To defend our homeland. And this time, it is just not another battle, another endless game in a long season, this time it will dueled with playoff intensity because both sides, the Dragon and the Saint, understand all that will be decided when one or the other lay dead from the battle.