Lakers give one up just to break the monotony

SAN ANTONIO -- The Lakers are so boring.

Why are we even here?

It's steaming hot and the only thing this city has going for it is the River Walk -- where everyone walks around a winding, polluted river, maybe catching a table by its side for dinner and watching the garbage float by.

There's also the Alamo, named for a rental car company, I believe, but none of it is Boston, and isn't that what everyone is really waiting for?

Maybe if the Lakers were more interesting, a lifetime sentence of three days in San Antonio would be all right. But we already know what's going to happen.

The Lakers are going to win. And then win again.

That's how it's gone so far. When they went to Salt Lake City for a couple of games, I stayed behind with the granddaughter, and I hear they lost.

I wouldn't know. I'm 10-0 with the Lakers, and each of our guys is great, the "we take just one game at a time" cliches flowing freely, and everyone else stinks.

The thrill of sports is the unexpected, an occasional Lakers defeat maybe and our heroes digging deep to fight back and win the next day. As the TNT or TBS commercial goes, "We know drama."

The Lakers don't.

They lose, and at least we can take a closer look at everyone without first patting them on the back.

The other day I get this e-mail from "bw," who wrote: "In the midst of all this Laker playoff euphoria, why haven't you cast a spotlight on Luke Walton's shooting?

"Have you seen it? What is he now, about two for 40? And other than a fifth-grade girls' playground game, have you ever seen a shooting form to match it? Have you noticed the deathly silence from the Laker broadcast team whenever he slams another brick off the glass? How many years is this guy signed for?"

First of all, he makes "deathly silence from the Laker broadcast team" sound like a bad thing.

But as for Walton, I repeat, the Lakers are 10-0 while I've watched them play, and if Walton is that bad, who cares?

I checked, though, and although he's two for nine against the Spurs, it's not exactly two for 40, and if you add up all the playoff games, he's 33 for 66, and that's darn good.

I suppose I should be concerned when the e-mailers are tougher on the Lakers than Page 2, but how does anyone pick them apart while they're doing so well?

I'm now reduced to checking out what the guys from ESPN are wearing. Marc Stein is sporting a Cal State Fullerton tennis T-shirt from his days at the school as a ball boy, but surprisingly Ric Bucher isn't wearing a Kobe jersey.