Lakers Overrated? Overhyped?

In my opinion, I believe that the Los Angeles Lakers are both overrated and overhyped. Although they are coming off back to back NBA Championships they just aren’t the same team, which is why I don’t see them in the finals. Ron Artest hasn’t played well this year and is affecting the way they run their triangle offense, Andrew Bynum is due for an injury, and Derrick Fisher has been inconsistent. This is the sign of an aging Laker team that is just not as good as before. However, every time that there is a conversation about the NBA Finals, many sports analysts say that in the Eastern Conference it is going to be a battle between the Heat, Celtics, Bulls, Magic and now maybe the Knicks. But when it comes to who they are going to play in the finals they often assume that they will play the Lakers.  They rarely mention the Spurs who have the best record in the NBA and the Mavericks who have a better record than Lakers as well. Many people think that the Lakers are the best team in the Western Conference but there are two teams with better records and a couple of teams that are getting players back from injury. So I don’t see how they are the best team in the Western Conference or even in the NBA. As far as being overhyped, I think they are at the top of the list of overhyped teams. No matter who they play, the game is made to seem like a huge game. Maybe the reason for this is that I live in Los Angeles. But regardless of that, If they win three straight against bad teams they make it seem like a big deal, even though it was a given. On the contrary, they make big deal about them losing to a bad team but shortly after they say it was just a game that got away from them and doesn’t show who they really are.  So, as far as the playoffs go I think they will get to the semi-finals but no further. And for the record, even though I hate the Lakers, I am not being biased when I say they are not the same team because the facts are there and even though I hate saying it the Lakers are a good team, just not good enough for another Championship this year.