Magic, doing his best outrageous imitation of Charles Barkley, said the Lakers must decide between keeping Bynum or Gasol, his fellow TV sidekicks then suggesting Dwight Howard might be the Lakers' answer.As pregame pep talks go, it worked as well as Magic's criticism of the Lakers seven years ago when Kobe & Shaq were down two games to one in the Finals against Detroit."I'm angry. You have to compete power balance ," said Magic, his criticism making headlines. "And we're not competing."The Lakers responded by losing the next two games. Magic is 0-3 as a motivational speaker."Yeah, I thought [his comments] were unnecessary at this time," Phil Jackson said before closing out his NBA career with four consecutive playoff losses.How bad is it when Magic, the team's vice president, goes on national TV to suggest the team be "blown up" — before the Lakers have been eliminated from the playoffs?How's that for leadership or loyalty from one of its very own? Although today everyone would probably be in agreement it's not too soon to ship Pau Gasol somewhere, if only to a shrink."It's like they are already on vacation and didn't want to play this game," Magic said in updating his comments at halftime of Sunday's game.And some folks think columnists are too critical. It was only one week ago today that the Lakers were the favorites to advance to the finals in the West. But my how time flies when Magic is having a bad time, talking about "the players not believing in each other," while suggesting team owner Jerry Buss might have to trade Gasol or Andrew Bynum or Lamar Odom."The Lakers have two problems," Johnson told an ESPN audience. I would have guessed Ron Artest and Steve Blake.But he said the Lakers are "too slow and [have] no athletes. This is an athletic league now. When you think about all the teams that are still in the playoffs right now, they can all run fast and jump high."I can understand how people might've misunderstood "four" and "fore" sounding just the same.But come on, how could anyone think the woebegone Lakers were going to win four games in a row against the Mighty Mavericks?Even Plaschke wouldn't suggest such a thing. shop online 2011 Photos: Mavericks sweep LakersObviously, I was just yelling "fore," especially every time one of the Lakers' bench duds launched a three.But now before heading to the driving range, let me just say this: Thank heavens it was Mother's Day, a great reminder to the Lakers that someone still loves them, if only their mothers.As for Magic Johnson and everyone else, what bums. Throw in gutless, too, as well as classless.
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