When the final buzzer sounded last night, I just sat on my couch quietly. I didn’t feel like crying. I wasn’t angry. I just felt….nothing. Numb, like I was an empty shell. I never expected the Lakers to be in this position. This season seemed like it was following the same patterns as previous seasons: lots of highs, lots of lows, but with full confidence that The Switch would be in the “on” position when it counted.
To be fair, the Lakers are not actually finished yet and although no NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, 
there is a first time for everything. The pragmatic part of my brain knows that the season is done, however. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there was something different about this team. They didn’t inspire confidence that they would pull through.
This isn’t to say that I gave up on the Lakers- I never will. I still held onto my unwavering faith that they would win in the end, and if they lost, that they would win in the playoffs once the “real season” started.
I know this sounds contradictory, and it’s difficult to explain. The main point is that this year more than any other I was banking on my faith in their abilities rather than their abilities confirming my faith in them. How many 4th quarter leads did we squander? How many shots were missed at the buzzer? A lot more than I remember from any of the past four seasons…
Next: Appreciation
