20 wonderful things about the 2012-13 Lakers: Kobe Bryant’s death stare, Mike D’Antoni’s face and more

The Lakers continue to fail. On Tuesday, they lost to a 4-17 Cavaliers team. L.A. is now 9-13 on the season. And man, this is awesome. We run through the highlights of the Lakers’ season so far.

by Tom Ziller

Dec 12, 2012, 2:39 PM UTC

David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

History suggests that any struggles encountered by the L.A. Lakers will not last. In the franchise's SoCal history, the Lakers have missed the playoffs exactly four times. They have an immaculate record over time, the second highest number of championships in league history and a list of legends other clubs can only dream of. (The Lakers' second-best shooting guard of all-time is better than all but one or two other shooting guards in NBA history. No matter which one of the two legendary Lakers shooting guards you pick.)

So yes, as a longtime Lakers hater, I’m enjoying this. Based on the Twitter glee during and after the most recent batch of Lakers losses, I’m guessing that a lot of you love this, too.

At some point, the Lakers will get back on track. Maybe next week, maybe next month, maybe next decade. It’ll happen. So we need to celebrate this turn of events as frequently as possible. Let’s do it.

THE LAKERS’ 5 MOST HILARIOUS LOSSES

So many to choose from!

1. Magic 113, Lakers 103 on December 3. L.A. lost to Orlando ... at home ... because they couldn't defend Arron Afflalo ... who had been traded for Dwight Howard. Just amazing.

2. Kings 113, Lakers 97 on November 21. I'm a little biased here, but man. The Kings had lost five straight and were 2-8 on the season. But Jason Thompson and Chuck Hayes absolutely dominated Dwight and Pau Gasol, because of course!

3. Pacers 79, Lakers 77 on November 27. I'm partial to home losses. This one featured Kobe going for 40 with a triple-double (10 rebounds, 10 turnovers), 31 percent shooting by the team and 5 of 38 shooting by everyone not named Dwight or Kobe. (5 of 38. 5 ... of 38.) George Hill blew by everyone out of isolation to hit the game-winning lay-up.

You know why game-winning lay-ups are rare? Because teams typically defend against easy shots with the game on the line. Pretty radical strat, I know.

4. Cavaliers 100, Lakers 94 on December 11. The 4-17 Cavs beat the Lakers. An amazing moment for mankind.

5. Bobcats 110, Lakers 103 on December 18. Just you wait.

3 THINGS THAT HAVE GONE WRONG UNDER MIKE D’ANTONI

Exactly one month ago today, I wrote about four things that could go wrong under Mike D’Antoni to give the Lakers problems. Those items were ...

1. Steve Nash doesn't get healthy.

2. Dwight Howard can’t do it all defensively.

3. The bench kills them.

4. Kobe.

Three out of four ain’t bad.

3 BEST KOBE MOMENTS

1. Kobe gets Mike Brown fired with an epic death stare.

2. Kobe and Dwight blame each other for a loss to the Rockets. Kobe says Dwight's free throw misses knocked the offense out of rhythm. Dwight says Kobe's late defensive rotations killed the Lakers. Note that in the very next game, the two had a neat little on-court argument about ... those defensive rotations. Maybe Dwight really is the new Shaq?

3. Kobe walks out. With eight seconds left in a loss to the Grizzlies, Kobe bails, heading back to the locker room while his teammates clean up the mess. A true leader.

3 MOST AMAZING PAU GASOL TWEETS

Incredible photos at the #SonyAwards! Check them out! They are worth it! bit.ly/VjcDkg this one is my favorite! twitter.com/paugasol/statu…
— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) December 6, 2012

(Oh my goodness.)

70 years ago one of the greats in music was born! We missed you Jimi Hendrix!bit.ly/JkZBRc
— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) November 27, 2012

And in the “hilarious in retrospect” category ...

The practice has gone really well. The first impressions with Mike D'Antoni have been very positive! We are going to enjoy this new system!
— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) November 15, 2012