This week’s discussion topic: Can the Lakers hold off the surging Dallas Mavericks for the number one seed in the Western Conference?

A) Absolutely.  The Lakers will recover from their slump and Dallas is bound to cool off.  The Mavs might make it interesting, but they just aren’t in the Lakers’ class.

B) Maybe.  Dallas is red hot and has a very good chance, but Kobe will do his best to make sure it doesn’t happen.

C) Not a chance.  If the Lakers keep playing like they have lately, not only will they lose the #1 seed, but they might even fall to #3 behind Denver or Utah as well.

SECRET OPTION D) The #1 seed in the West is the Lakers’ birthright and nobody can take that from them, especially not some shaggy-haired German and his washed up, ancient point guard.

Don’t look now Lakers but the Mavericks are right behind you.

Let us know your thoughts and join in on the discussion by leaving a comment below.  NOTE: Comment moderation is currently turned on so I have to approve your comment if you have never made one at this blog before, but I will try and be fast about it, after that you can comment freely.  I know it is a hassle, but it is outside of my control for now.

There is a rumor that this might become the Lakers’ new logo by the end of the season.

Ron Artest (-50% Soft): Not only is Artest too new to the team to be accused of being part of the softness problem, but he is also quite possibly the least soft person in the NBA.  Just ask that Detroit Piston fan who still has Ron-Ron’s knuckle imprints in his forehead.  Artest is so not soft that he actually has the ability to negate the softness of others at times, assuming he hasn’t sapped himself of his powers by getting another stupid haircut and jinxing himself and the team in the process.

Shannon Brown (10% Soft): I can’t think of any examples where Shannon displayed any overt softness but I think that is mostly because it would require him to actually think while on the court, something he only does once every ten games.  I still suspect that when the chips are down there will be a little part of Shannon that might be soft.

Kobe Bryant (0% Soft): Kobe showed just how not soft he was when he didn’t even flinch when Matt Barnes faked at throwing the ball into his face.  Dude didn’t even blink.  That is just manly.  Not once has Kobe ever folded when the going got rough and not once has he ever complained about anything other than wanting more from his teammates.  No softness here.

Andrew Bynum (25% Soft): Drew has the bulk and the mean streak to be a badass enforcer for the Lakers, but that would require him to care about more than his own personal success for more than five minutes at a time.  On the rare occasion that he does decide to be selfless, Bynum has been able to stand up to intimidation and roughhouse tactics, but he hasn’t exactly been doing any intimidating of his own.

Jordan Farmar (75% Soft): Going through life with ears like his has to have given Jordy at least somewhat of a thick skin but there is also a very good reason that whenever the play starts getting chippy, Farmar almost always ends up on the bench rather quickly.

Derek Fisher (1% Soft): Ask Luis Scola’s face just how soft Derek Fisher is.  The Professor might seem like a classy, congenial fellow but don’t go messing with him on the floor because he isn’t going to let himself be punked.  While the rest of Lakers tried to ignore Matt Barnes’ dirty tactics, Fish was the only guy to go push back after Derek was the victim of Matt Barnes 37th illegal screen of the game.  And, yes, it is a problem for the Lakers that their 35-year old point guard who is also the smallest guy on the team is also one of the toughest guys on the team.

Pau Gasol (99% Soft): I don’t call him Senor Softy for poops and giggles, people.  If there is one guy who has consistently curled up into the fetal position whenever the chips were down it is Pau Gasol.  Even in the rare instances where he doesn’t back down from physicality and intimidation, it is usually born out of frustration.  Just look how he reacted to the Laker loss in Orlando.  While the rest of the team was focused on how they were ashamed of themselves for letting Matt Barnes agitate them the way he did, Gasol instead chose to speak at length with the media about how he was unhappy with the offensive game plan (in other words, he wanted more shots).  Way to have your boys’ back, Pau.

DJ Mbenga (-1,000,000% Soft): Let’s see.  Mbenga was once a political prisoner who was once sentenced to be executed before he escaped and fled to Europe.  He also has a black belt in akido.  By comparison, DJ Mbenga makes John Wayne look like Johnny Weir.

Adam Morrison (1000% Soft): Dude cried on the court in college.  What is softer than that?  Good thing he never plays.

Lamar Odom (50% Soft): Even after all his tough talk about Matt Barnes, Odom still looks pretty soft but that is only because his toughness seems to be decided by the flip of a coin.  He was one of the main scapegoats for the Lakers when they got pushed around by the Celtics in the 2008 Finals but then the very next season, he nutted up in a huge way and helped punch the Thuggets right in the mouth in the 2009 Western Conference Finals.  Really, Odom’s softness is merely a matter of how he is feeling that day which I am fairly certain is dictated purely by his level of Skittles intake.

Josh Powell (50% Soft): I’m going to call this one a toss up because we have never seen any examples of Powell playing during any kind of game with contention or chippyness in it.  Apparently garbage time just isn’t really prime time for guys to start acting like punks.

Sasha Vujacic (90% Soft): It might surprise everyone to see that Sasha is almost all soft.  He can be scrappy as hell at times, but even when he is out there being a nuisance, he is doing it in soft ways.  Taking flops, complaining about every single call and all his other histrionics.  That’s not being tough, that’s being a little twerp who is afraid to really mix it up.

Luke Walton (40% Soft): Luke scores pretty high on the soft scale, but that 40% is really all located in his back which simply refuses to toughen up and let him play for more than a week at a time.  Outside of that, Luke is not at all afraid to mix it up and push back if need be.

Please, like there was any doubt that this shot wasn’t going in… OK, maybe a little.

The Laker certainly made it interesting, but at least the infamous three-game losing streak has come to an end.  Not only did Kobe Bryant snap the Lakers out of their losing slump with his game-winning jumper, but he even found a little bit of personal redemption for himself on that shot seeing how two of the three recent losses came when he failed to deliver on the last-second heroics we have become accustomed to from the Mamba.  He even found a small measure of revenge by dropping the dagger on Toronto unlike when he missed a potential game-winner up in Toronto earlier this season.

But the busting didn’t stop there.  Toronto spent most of the game in zone defense, daring the Lakers to beat them with their outside shooting.  A good strategy it was since the Lakers ended the evening just 3-for-15 from downtown.  But rather than wallowing the house of bricks that their shooters were building, the Lakers were uncharacteristically aggressive at attacking the basket.  Be it the Lakers working hard to move the ball into a position where they could find a hole in the zone and dump it inside or having by Bryant willing his way through the Toronto perimeter, the Lakers took the game to the Raptors and ultimately forced them into committing 31 fouls leading to a whopping 44 free throw attempts for LA.

It was far from a perfect win for the Lakers (don’t even bother looking at their defensive metrics, it ain’t pretty), but at this point they should be happy with any game that ends with a big shiny W.

• 11 field goal attempts and 11 free throw attempts, that ought to be enough touches to shut Pau Gasol up for a little while, right?
• Just nine turnovers for the Lakers tonight is a great sign that the offense is coming around.  They’ve been pretty sloppy with the ball prior to this game and that they got into the paint so much with so few turnovers is definite progress.

Lake Show Outtakes:

• I didn’t think it was possible for Sasha to look even more like a 12-year old boy but the new protective sleeve he is wearing somehow managed to accomplish just that.  They are also saying that the sleeve is affecting Sasha’s shot, so I am guessing that means he actually might hit a three-pointer every once in awhile now.
• Some of the Lakers seem to be trying a little too hard to move the ball in the offense.  Lamar Odom, for one, looked like he passed up at least three potential layups in favor of kicking the ball out.  I appreciate the effort Lamar, but just take the two points from now on.
• The Lakers may have won, but they still have some work to do, especially on defense.  Nobody is on the same page on defense anymore, in fact, I am not even sure they are reading the same book.  The way Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher screwed up the switch on that high screen that led to Chris Bosh’s game-tying three-pointer was a perfect example of how the Lakers just don’t know what each other are doing.  If they can’t figure out the proper switch in that clutch scenario, then I can’t imagine how they know how to accomplish anything else.

Counting down to the Lakers game against the Raptors looking for LA to snap themselves out of this skid.

Toronto Raptors (32-29) @ Los Angeles Lakers (46-18)

Game Info: 7:30 PM PT TV-Fox Sports West & NBA TV; Radio-710 AM, 1330 AM

THREE Questions:

• How will the Lakers channel their frustrations tonight?  Will it be a lot of selfish play, finger-pointing and arguing for the Lakers or an intense team effort bent on domination on both ends of the floor?
• What is the biggest problem for the Lakers right now: the offense or the defense?  Maybe it is a little bit of both?  If it is the offense, this should be a great game for it to get back on track since the Raptors have the worst team defensive PER in the NBA.
• Can Ron Artest shutdown Hedo Turkoglu again?  The last time these teams met Artest totally locked up Turkoglu who managed to shoot just 1-for-6 from the floor and score only 9 points against Ron-Ron.  Artest really needs to redeem himself after his failures against Vince Carter and bottling up Hedo is a good way to start.

TWO Predictions:

• It is only fitting that this game comes after a three-game losing streak in which Kobe failed to connect on game-saving shots in two of the losses since the Lakers’ loss in Toronto earlier this year was Kobe’s first failed attempt at heroics this season.  As such, I think Kobe is going to carry the team to victory in this one and put up a double-double along the way.
• As is customary when Gasol complains about touches, he gets more than he can handle.  Tonight he will attempt at least 16 shots, making at least nine of them.

ONE Match-up to Watch:

• Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum vs. Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani.  One of the holes in the Laker defense is that their big men (including Lamar Odom to an extent) have a tough time defending big men that can shoot and attack off the perimeter which is exactly what Bosh and Bargnani both do.

ZERO Tolerance for… a four-game losing streak.  This pretty much goes without saying, but if you look at how much hair-pulling and screaming this little three-game slump skid has caused, I can only imagine how Laker fans would react to a four-game losing streak.  I’m pretty sure there would be mass suicides all across Southern California.  Maybe we should hide the Kool-Aid before the game starts, just in case.

Leave your own questions, answers, predictions or comments or  just hang out with us during the game or hit us up on Twitter @LakersOfFire.

Wow, Pau looks really upset… or sleepy.  I can’t quite tell.

This whole thing about me being soft, it just isn’t true.  I am really a tough guy, I swear, just look at me.  I have a beard and everything.  Do you know anybody with a beard who isn’t tough, I mean, except for Leonard Maltin.  Chuck Norris has a beard and I hear that he is so tough that he started the Big Bang by roundhouse kicking God in the face.  That is so something I would do.  I’m just like Chuck Norris only taller and swarthier.

I do all sorts of tough guy things all the time.  Like this one time near the end of the third quarter in our loss to Orlando, I got really upset and kind of twisted Dwight Howard’s arm and everything.  I’m pretty sure he pooped his pants after that.  Sure, I only did that to him because he swatted my previous shot attempt 15-feet out of bounds just a few seconds before and it was totally embarrassing, but you have to admit, I was totally badass.  He should consider himself lucky that I didn’t do anything worse to him like give him a wet willy.  He would have been so sad standing there with his ear all wet and junk.

It is badass tactics like that which prove that I deserve more shots, especially late in games.  You’d think I would get more shots anyway with my awesome way of standing on the low post with my hands in the air and squawking like a giant chicken of some sort.  Can’t they see that I’m open?  Sure, I could demand the ball or fight harder for position, but that would be a lot of work.  I much prefer just watching Kobe take all the shots and then rolling my eyes behind his back afterwards.  What could be more hardcore than that?

Just me give me the ball, man.  I come through in the clutch every time.  Well, except for that game in Cleveland where I totally choked at the free throw line and then went into a shell like a sad little turtle for the next week.  Hehe, turtles are cute, they make me smile.  Anways, I promise that was a total fluke, next I promise to make at least one of the free throws.  You just watch and see.

I guess I just don’t get it, despite my obvious tough guy status, everyone keeps treating me like I am some kind of wuss.  What is up with Phil Jackson making me talk with Charles Oakley?  What does he have to teach me?  I know he was really tough and scary in his day, but he has nothing on me.  That is why I only cried twice during the five-minute conversation with him.

You all just wait and see.  I am going to show everyone how not soft I am, all I need is a chance.  I promise that the next time we lose, I am not going to do something super soft like Kobe and fume for days and scream at my teammates in the locker room.  Anger only leads to more anger and anger makes me sad.  What I will do is kind of droop my head, sigh and shrug my shoulders a few times.  Message received, bitches.  I will be one unhappy guy and everyone will know it and console me by bringing me my blanky and my favorite teddy bear, Bonita.  Bonita means pretty in Spanish but the point is that she is a bear.  Tough guys like me are just like bears you see, that is why I sleep with Bonita every single night.  Us bears have to stick together and snuggle.  I bet Chuck Norris has like twenty teddy bears and maybe a stuffed pink bunny or two.

That’s right, world.  No more mister nice Softy.  You all better watch out or I will totally mumble something unflattering about your appearance under my breath.

Damn you, Matt Barnes.  Damn you straight to hell!

Magical Hoops: Does this game even register anywhere on the look-ahead radar? I’ve maintained all season that, for the teams at the top, individual games are fairly meaningless when predicting playoff series and I think today’s game meant relatively little if the two teams meet in June.

Lakers of Fire: I don’t really think this means much to the Lakers in terms of a potential Finals rematch with the Magic other than we might have to send DJ Mbenga and his black belt in akido after Matt Barnes if he starts up with those antics again.  It was a close game and I don’t think anyone expected it not to be.  The Lakers know full well that Orlando is a formidable opponent and aren’t going to beat themselves up over losing a game to them.  However, the Lakers are reeling a bit right now, losing three straight for the first time since they acquired Pau Gasol over two years ago.  If this loss did anything, it cemented in everyone’s minds that the Lakers are very vulnerable and not at all a lock to repeat.

MH: How many expletives did Matt Barnes cause you to utter during the game? Kobe laughed it off as he should because he sees that type of play everywhere, but I know I’d be pretty steamed at him if I were on the other side.

LOF: The expletive count was well into the double-digits, but for two reasons.  For starters, he was playing like a punk and just being a general pain in the ass.  Second, he was GETTING AWAY WITH IT!!!!  I don’t know how the refs let so much of his dirty tricks go uncalled even though he was doing it right in front of them, especially the illegal screen (and it was, don’t even try and argue) he set on Fisher near the end of the game that drew the double fouls.  Then again, the refs let him get away with about 11 illegal screens before that, so I wasn’t too surprised.  What really bugs me about him though is that he isn’t a Laker.  I remember Barnes vividly from the Golden State Warriors’ upset of Dallas in the playoffs a few years ago and thinking he is the exact kind of hard-nosed, energizing agitator that is so valuable in the post-season.  I’ve wanted the Lakers to scoop him up ever since Golden State cut him loose and they haven’t and now they finally paid for it.

MH: Who scares you more out of the East: Cleveland, Orlando or Boston? All games have been played against those three so you have some idea of how matchups will play out (although Cleveland has changed theirs a bit).

LOF: Boston doesn’t scare me in the least right now.  I know their is the historic rivalry and everything, but that team got old overnight and I just don’t see all their AARP-card carrying “Big Three” being able to go up against the Lakers for a seven-game series.  To be honest, the same goes for Orlando.  The Magic aren’t going to be able to top the Lakers in the Finals without Vince Carter producing like he did tonight in every game.  It sure looked to me like VC could only muster up the courage to attack the basket for one half of play tonight, so I don’t really think that is going to scale to well in a seven-game series.  Cleveland is easily the scariest team in the East.  Ron Artest has been playing some good D recently but isn’t a stopper every game (as we saw yesterday), so I don’t see how he is going to contain LeBron.  The Jamison addition really made them scary though because the Lakers can’t guard perimeter-forwards to save their life, especially if the Cavs can use him off the screen and roll effectively.  Ultimately, the biggest threat to the Lakers right now is themselves, they just aren’t playing well on either end of the floor right now and need to get their act together over the next month, otherwise they might not even make the Finals.

Just in case Orlando fans had forgotten.

LOF: How does today’s win change the Magic’s mindset when it comes to facing the Lakers?  A lot?  A little?

MH: I can’t imagine it changes it much. A loss might’ve hurt in that there could’ve been nagging doubt; all this does is eliminate that doubt. The Magic still believe they match up – whether they actually do is absolutely up for debate.

LOF: Remove his foul troubles from the equation, and Andrew Bynum seemed to do a very good job of defending Dwight Howard.  In the Finals, Bynum was 80% healthy at best, but this year he is healthy and holding his own against Howard, any concern there that Superman might have met his Kryptonite?

MH: Bynum has the size to handle Howard and I think he did well in the Finals also. I wouldn’t call him Kryptonite yet until they are even up on all stats but, as someone who can hold Howard down, maybe. Sunday’s game told us nothing as far as that goes though.

LOF: Does it concern you at all that the Magic barely won this game?  If Kobe’s final shot goes down, the story of this game very well could have been how Orlando choked.  Let’s face it, the Magic caught the Lakers at one of their lowest points of the season, got an uncharacteristically aggressive game from Vince Carter, saw multiple Lakers get into foul trouble and had to rely on Matt Barnes going Ric Flair (Lamar Odom’s words, not mine) to pull out a two-point win at home.  I know a win is a win, but I don’t know if Magic fans should be planning a parade just yet.

MH: No, 20 turnovers, 6 more than the season average (and a -13 deficit to LA, which is unusual), Howard in foul trouble early and only getting 31 minutes, typical Magic getting a lead and then losing it, “interesting” refereeing on both sides (no complaints about the illegal screens, just like I’m sure you wouldn’t justify Kobe throwing an elbow at the neck), etc., etc., etc. That’s why I don’t like single games as indicators. There are way too many variables to take anything from it. I would count on Barnes doing that going forward – how the refs deal with it will dictate how far it goes. I’m not sure you can count VC’s game as uncharacteristic – when he’s attacking, everyone sees why the Magic signed him. I would take that as a worrying sign for the Lakers – if they have to deal with that VC, then it could be trouble, otherwise, the Lakers still hold the edge. Anyway, no parades here, we have too many roadblocks to book tickets to the Finals.

Thanks, Don.  I’d like to say it has been fun, but I am still fuming over Matt Barnes, so you’ll just have to settle for me saying it has been “interesting.”