There are few things in life that make a sports fan hate getting older than watch a previously great team that they have cheered for and watched be great for a long time head down the road to oblivion.

The part that irritates me more than the fact that the Dallas Mavericks are going to sweep the defending champions, is that the Lakers have shown absolutely no heart on the defensive end of the court. Sure they show flashes, but champions don't blow 16 point leads in the fourth quarter at home. Champions don't fail to execute in the fourth quarter of a playoff game.

Ultimately, the Lakers have run into the worst possible defensive scenario: a power forward that would require Lakers' forward Pau Gasol to defend on the perimeter. He absolutely hates getting higher than the foul line and anything outside the paint is an invitation to opponents to show that for all the talent Gasol has, he has absolutely no lateral quickness on defense. He's a center defensively, a power forward offensively, and when neither one shows up the Lakers are done.

The only way the Lakers three-peat is by doing what no other NBA team has ever done and win three straight after being down 3-0. Bring the big Hefty bags the next time you're in town, boys.

Is it me or is Andre Ethier the best athlete in a long time to fly completely under the radar?

It seems like no one talks about him until we're a month into the season and he has a 30 game hitting streak and hitting .379.

I know there has to be a certain amount of a body of work before we start talking about a player's greatness, but he's well on his way and we need to at least be thinking about him as a top 5 National League outfielder. Maybe top 10 in the majors.

Last night we saw another effort by Derrick Rose to remind the world that he was indeed worthy of his MVP award.

You gotta feel for the kid because after every outstanding performance everyone says the same thing: "...that was very Jordan-esque". I guess it's part of the mantle of responsibility of playing for the Bulls and being a part of the franchise's resurrection but enough is enough.

Unfortunately, he's just going to have to battle through until we start saying things like "...that's just D-Rose being D-Rose..."