The brand of basketball played by the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday night against the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 of their first round NBA playoff series certainly wasn't pretty, as the Lakers' 17-point loss would attest. There is still a chance for the Lakers to advance, and with Game 7 at home odds are in their favor to do so.
But if the Lakers lost on Saturday night, will first-year head coach Mike Brown get fired? As Dexter Fishmore at Silver Screen and Roll pointed out, it probably won't come to that, but it could get ugly with the Lakers:
if the Lakers do fall in Game Seven, some nasty shit is going to come raining down. [Andrew] Bynum might demand a trade. Kobe [Bryant] might demand to be amnestied. Either guy might point to Brown and say, "It's him or me." If the Lakers don't advance, one of the Brown-Bynum-Kobe threesome will be gone next year. Maybe more than one. There's way too much talent making way too much money for a first-round exit, and how much more of Kobe's amazing career are people willing to see go to waste?
In NBA history, home teams are 86-21 in Game 7, an 80.3% winning percentage. Brown better hope that trend continues, just to be on the safe side.
For more news and notes on Lakers basketball or on this first round NBA playoff series, be sure to read Silver Screen and Roll.
