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Ten Reasons The Lakers Most Definitely WILL Take The 2009 NBA Title:

10: Sasha Vujacic hits the triples in big games: He is kind of annoying. He looks like Fievel from “An American Tale”. But this little sucker came up big in the playoffs last year. The Lakers have an amazing bench and this punk is one of the big reasons.

9: Bench, bench, bench: they are deep. There is not much else that can be said. There is no taking it easy against the Lakers. They have a lot of talented players that are paid a lot to shut down the opposing team’s secondaries

8: Kobe has got to be hungry: He still hasn’t done it. He hasn’t proven he can take a title without big Shaq. Kobe must have the hunger and he must be hungry for something other than the taste of Shaq’s @#$.

7: The west is looking weak: The west ain’t looking so wild these days. The Spurs are old and limping. The Jazz have disappeared into the abyss that is Carlos boozer’s inflated ego and the Nuggets are nothing but a paper tiger. The Rockets look relatively mean but nothing the Lakers won’t be able to handle.

6: Odom knows how to fill many positions: With Lamar Odom on the Laker roster L.A. won’t be left without a go-to guy when Bryant is resting. Odom plays multiple positions. He plays two sides of the floor and on any given night he looks like Marion or Kirilenko are supposed to look. Dynamic player!

5: They have the experience: They have now all been to the Finals and they know how to win. Do not underestimate how much experience plays a role in winning in the playoffs. It is huge! Just ask big Timmy Duncan.

4: Money, money, money… money!!!: Okay there is no giant NBA conspiracy. David Stern is not the evil emperor from star wars. That being said, Stern does seem to influence the referees. Last year in the playoffs Stern stated he would like to see a Celtic/Lakers playoffs. Why? Because it meant money for the NBA. If you watched the playoffs last year you know the referees slightly favored these two teams when it came down to the gray calls. Was it blatant? No. Were they told to throw games? No. Did they do what most employees do (do whatever will make the boss happy)? Yes! The Lakers are the largest market and there is a lot of money involved. They will get a couple of extra calls a game. Not a conspiracy, just a little star treatment.

3: Bynum is back: Some experts feel that the outcome of last years NBA finals would have been completely different if the Lakers would have been able to slide Gasol to the four and could have used Odom off the bench. Bynum is strong and he is an up-and-comer. If Bynum makes it to the finals, he will have a large impact.

2: The infamous Pau Gasol trade: It has been over a year since this trade. I feel there has never been a more one-sided trade in the history of the National Basketball Association. Pau Gasol is a talent. There are very few very good bigs left in the league. Pau is one of them

1: Kobe Bryant is a cold-blooded killer: I am definitely not a L.A. Lakers fan. I do not particularly like Kobe Bryant. But I will tell you this, at 1:30 in the morning in a basement room, while watching the Team USA Olympic championship game, during the fourth quarter, all i could strain to utter was “GIVE IT TO KOBE, GIVE IT TO KOBE!!!”. At that moment I had an epiphany Kobe is still the league’s scariest player in the fourth. Non-Laker fans have nightmares about things Kobe did to their respective teams in the fourth quarter. He is a killer. Love him or hate him but you must admit you don’t want to see him facing your team in the fourth.

-by Ben Evans