In the latest ESPN Insider, John Hollinger wrote: "I guess we better hit the panic button. A preseason championship contender has lost three straight and five of its past 10 games, including a loss at the buzzer in Memphis, a home loss to Indiana, and a big blown lead against Utah." I understand that if you read just that, you'd think that Hollinger was saying this team (which turns out to be the Lakers) was done. And no Laker fan wants to hear that. But he went on to write: "Sound familiar? Only this isn't Miami we're talking about -- it's the Los Angeles Lakers. And you'll forgive them if they're not exactly flustered by the recent mini-slide, even though they've betrayed some bad habits in the process. Suffice it to say nobody is wondering whether Mitch Kupchak will replace Phil Jackson. With good reason. Unlike the Heat, the Lakers have been in all 18 games they've played this year, with their greatest defeat coming by a meager six points. Even on Tuesday night, with as many mistakes as they made, they had a chance to win at the buzzer, and lost largely because the Grizzlies were an unsustainable 8-of-12 on 3-pointers. Throw in injuries to Andrew Bynum and Theo Ratliff and the inevitable grind of the far-flung Western Conference schedule (this trip, for instance, is basically a cross-country jaunt just for a Memphis-Houston back-to-back before returning to Cali on Thursday), and one can understand how L.A. has struggled to maintain the momentum from its 8-0 start." and goes on to list areas where the Lakers have made mistakes or had problems recently (Kobe doing too much, the Lakers forgetting their 7-footer, problems with quick opposing guards, and wearing out their big guy). Some of the Lakers fans got that Hollinger was drawing parallels in his intro between the Lakers and the Heat -- specifically the media being too quick to judge a team after only one month into the season -- but some did not, which I think is in its own way, ironic. :)