No three-peat! 10/9/10

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the greatest organization that the NBA has ever seen.  They began play in 1947 as the Minneapolis Lakers and they won the league title in 48, 49, 50, 52, and 1953.  That team was led by the NBA's first dominate big man George Mikan who was the first in a long line a great Laker centers.  Before the  start of the 1960 off-season the Lakers were moved to Los Angeles where the team became a west coast force and became the home to great players like "The Logo" Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.  Since the 60's the Lakers have won 11 NBA titles with blood sweat and tears from players like Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, and many more.  

To have a great team you must have to great coach and Phil Jackson is that coach, he was the one who convinced Shaq and Kobe to work together for a singular goal of an NBA title and the teams featuring those two won three straight titles "The three-peat".  Jackson also coached Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen to two separate three-peats in the 1990's.  To date Phil Jackson has never coached a team who won an NBA championship without it being a part of a three-peat but that's about to end. 

The current incarnation of the Lakers who feature Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol have been to the NBA Finals for three straight years, losing the first contest to the Celtics, defeating a young and very inexperienced Orlando Magic team the next year, and finally this past season barely surviving the surprising Boston Celtics in an epic seven game series.  That's the good news but as we all know with the NBA history never lies.  The last NBA team to make it to four straight NBA finals were the Boston Celtics team that won the NBA championship in 63, 64, 65, and 66.  Not only do the Lakers have to play against history but they are also playing against injuries having had so many playoff battles the last three seasons.  Derek Fisher has gotten a year older and I'm not fully sold on journeymen Steve Blake and Matt Barnes at this point in time.  The worst thing that will plague the Lakers during this upcoming season will be injuries.  Andrew Bynum is out until December or later and Kobe's knee is only at 60% after off season surgery and that's by far the worst sign for the team with 82 games looming and possibly more in the playoffs.  

The Lakers will be one of the best teams of the season as they have been for years but this team has run its course.  They will make the playoffs and they will most likely get out of the first round, but I predict they will lose in either the second round or the conference finals due to the factors that I listed above.  In the event that I am wrong it will be the most shocking event of the season and I will say job well done and tip my hat, but I highly doubt that I will be wrong.