Well, playoff time is here and what a Western Conference battle we have in store. Being a Lakers fan, I am actually much more nervous this time around than I have been in years past. With our early exit last postseason, and the strides that Minnesota has made and the consistency that San Antonio has maintained, I see potential disappointments if we don't come with our 'A' game.

And there's no reason we shouldn't come with our 'A' game. Everyone is healthy. Horace Grant is out but I hardly consider that a particularly large blow to the team performance on the floor as much as it may be in the locker room. But Ho Grant should be in the locker room so that shouldn't be seen as a weakness. Speaking of weaknesses, I think one of our weaknesses right now is we are not feeding off of Shaq as much as we should early in games. Give Shaq the rock down low, maybe get some folks in foul trouble, and run the triangle off of him. Also, we need somebody running with the Glove down the court. He wants to run oh so bad and a lot of times he ends having to take it himself. There is no reason we shouldn't be scoring six to twelve points off of fast breaks per game. And that's being conservative!!

Defensively, we are playing decent ball but our problem, as it has been over the past 5 years or so, is the pick and roll. And it is not only a problem when Shaq's man is setting the pick. I hate to say it but at some point the NBA needs to enforce the moving pick foul. San Antone and Sac-town have the moving pick down to an art. Also speaking of rules, I think the flagrant foul should be called during 'Hack-a-Shaq'. Some will argue that 'Hack-A-Shaq' is a gameplan. That's idiotic. In no other sport are the rules purposely broken as part of the 'gameplan'. If you hug a player, flagrant. If you foul player intentionally and he doesn't even have the ball, flagrant. Dr. James Naismith, who would be sickened by the 'zone' defense being used in the pros, would probably disown the game if he had known that intentionally fouling a player was a gameplan to some teams. I know it disgusts me, so it must be worthy of discussing.