TORRANCE TRIBUNE April 14, 2016 Page 5 Up and Adam “Fans want to see him one last time, so he hobbles to center court, throws up a few air balls, smiles for the camera, and everyone goes home happy.” Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L AW Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litigation 310-540-6000 *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization “Despite the team’s regrettable end to their season, the Spartans experienced an extremely successful year on all fronts.” STARS & STRIPES A M E R I C A N M A D E C L O T H I N G S T O R E COME CHECK US OUT! GREAT CLOTHING INCLUDING DENIM, HATS, BAGS, SHOES AND MORE 1107 Van Ness Ave.Torrance, CA 90501 • 310.320-3207 LEE 101 USA, WOOLRICH, SAVE KHAKI, MINNETONKA MOCCASIN, PENNY, JAN SPORT, DULUTH, REYN SPOONER, TRETORN, BALL, BURTON, STANCE, RAINBOW SANDALS, FILSON, TEVA, NEW YORK HAT, PADDY WAX, RICHER & POORER, SCHOTT USA, STRATHTAY Open Mondays through Saturdays Noon to 6pm Lakers Clinch Worst Season Ever By Adam Serrao A long time has passed since the Lakers were competing for championships on the floor of the TD Garden in Boston. It was only 2009- 2010 when Paul Pierce and the Celtics were the Lakers biggest rivals. Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and company were bringing home banners to the Staples Center and enjoying their time as the league’s best team. A lot of time has passed since then. It’s been six years and players like Pau and even Pierce have all moved on, but a 62 loss season sure has a way of making fond memories seem like the even more distant past. Today’s Lakers team is dealing with Nick Young and Jordan Clarkson being accused of sexual harassment. D’Angelo Russell is in the news for all of the wrong reasons and Kobe is a literal shell of himself, wrapped in ice at every joint, trying to find relief from the pain. The pain isn’t only in Kobe’s body. It’s also at the sight of the team. With a 91-81 loss to the Clippers last Wednesday night, the Lakers clinched their worst season in franchise history. For the third straight year now, the Lakers have set a franchise record for most losses in a season. In the 2013-’14 season, the team went 27-55. In 2014-’15, they went 21-61. This year, 61 losses would be a treat. The team’s loss to the Clippers assured them of at least 62 losses for the year. Dating back to less than a week ago, they already had acquired at least 64. Unless you’re the Philadelphia 76ers, who for some reason pride themselves on losing, getting consistently worse year after year is a hard thing to do. Putting together a season in which the team wins less than 20 of its total 84 games must not only take real effort, or lack thereof, but it must also mean that something is inherently wrong with the team and organization. Kobe has a different opinion about the entire year. “It’s hard for people to understand this, but losing is losing,” Bryant said. “There aren’t different degrees of losing, not in my mind. You either win a championship or you’re s---. It’s very black and white to me.” To a certain extent, what Kobe is saying makes sense. If you’re not the last team standings when all is said and done, you’re simply a loser. But to say that this Lakers team is on the same level as the Oklahoma City Thunder, for instance, is rather ridiculous. While the Thunder are in the thick of the playoff hunt, given good fortune, they could actually surprise and win the title. The Lakers, on the other hand, are so incredibly bad this season that the only good fortune that they could possibly obtain would come in the NBA draft lottery this May. The last time a team set a franchise record for losses in three consecutive seasons was the Detroit Pistons when they did it in the 1957-1960 seasons. The Last time the Lakers lost more than 50 games before their current three-year streak was in the 1957-’58 season when the team was based in Minneapolis. In the process of setting all of the wrong record for all of the wrong reasons, the Lakers have lost a total of 178 games in a three-year span. Only 17 games better than the 76ers, who continue to be a team in complete disarray and are a laughing stock of the league. “They’re learning and it’s hard,” head coach Byron Scott explained of his young team. “When we had the veteran guys, they know how to compete every single night. They’ve been in the league for a while. These young guys, they don’t know how to do that every night.” Competing every night for a 20-year-old kid like Russell may be made a little bit more difficult by the presence of a 20 year veteran like Bryant. Kobe, on his “farewell tour” around the league, hasn’t necessarily gone out of his way to mentor Russell, or any of the other young players on the team. Instead, he has been playing toward the crowd, hogging the ball, and shooting an all-time low percentage from the field (.352). Out of the 1029 shots Bryant has taken as of last weekend, he has made only 362. There’s no wonder as to why Russell’s goal down the stretch of the season is to, “Give Kobe the ball,” as he stated. “Wherever he’s at, give him the ball.” As much as Scott wants to criticize the young kids on the team, truth is that they’re not getting an equal shake. Kobe’s on his tour around the league that resembles much more of a circus tour than anything resembling basketball. Fans want to see him one last time, so he hobbles to center court, throws up a few air balls, smiles for the camera, and everyone goes home happy. Jerry Buss must be turning in his grave at the spectacle that the Lakers have become, but next season, without the enormous shadow of Kobe casting glares and judgment at the young players trying to become something in this league, the Lakers should be a bit more well-off. That’s not hard to say, coming off of a season in which the team has barely surpassed the 15 win plateau, but it can’t get much worse, can it? • South Highlights This Year’s Soccer Recap By Adam Serrao The South High Spartans soccer team has been no stranger to success in either the Pioneer League or the CIF standings in recent years. This year, under head coach Chad Lagerwey, the Spartans put together a 19-5-1 record while going 9-1 in league play, good enough for first place in their division. The Last time South finished first in their division, it was the 2011- ’12 season. The very next year, the Spartans lost in the CIF Division IV championship game to Ontario by a final score of 3-2. This year, some of the same players remained from that 2012-’13 championship-game team as the Spartans set out to put together a similar run. After an incredible postseason that saw the Spartans mow through four straight competitors, South was able to make it back to yet another championship game. Unfortunately for the Spartans, they once again fell short by a 2-0 final score, this time at the hands of the Godinez Grizzliez. Despite the team’s regrettable end to their season, the Spartans experienced an extremely successful year on all fronts. South opened things up at the beginning of December with a close 3-1 loss at the hands of Redondo Union, but didn’t lose again until the end of the month, compiling five straight wins in the process. A 4-0 shutout victory over Lawndale boosted the Spartans into league play, where they won three straight games over their rivals from North and Torrance High, and this year’s last place team in the division, Centennial. South’s only league loss came at the hands of Leuzinger, who finished in second place this season. Following their loss to Leuzinger, the Spartans didn’t lose again until the championship game, rattling off 10 straight victories in that same amount of time, including a 9-1 victory over Centennial and 3-0 win over their cross-town rivals from West High. Two of the biggest pacesetter’s for the Spartans team this year were center Robbie Roosen and his teammate, David Paine. Roosen and Paine were the two leaders of the team and proved to be integral pieces to South’s and Lagerwey’s success. “Robbie and David held things together,” Lagerwey explained. “Robbie is great with organization and dominant in the air and David totally runs things.” Without those two players leading the team, the Spartans may not have even been in contention for a championship; a feat that the school has not accomplished since the 1984 season. With a great coaching staff in place and an overabundance of talent coming through the South High system, there is no doubting the fact that the Spartans will be back in championship contention soon. Their two visits to the championship game in the last four years speaks volumes about the team. It’s only a matter of time before they finally take home that championship crown. Torrance High The Torrance Tartars boys soccer team was on the brink of making their own run in this year’s CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs, but needed to get past Norwalk in a wild-card game first. After dominating the first half of play and keeping Norwalk off the board, the Tartars seemingly tired out, failing to put one in the net in their most important game of the season. Norwalk finally wound up finding an answer to the Torrance High defense in the 65th minute, scoring to settle the game. The 1-0 loss kept the Tartars out of the playoffs as they finished the season with a 9-10-3 record, good enough for third place in the Pioneer League standings. Despite their inability to make the playoffs, the Tartars still experienced quite a successful season. Under head coach Ryan Burnett, Torrance rattled off three consecutive victories that gave themselves a chance at making the playoffs. Two of the team’s final four victories of the season were over their cross-town rivals from West High, while they also took it to North High with a 3-1 victory in one of the last games of the regular season. A season series sweep at the hands of South High in addition to a 3-1 loss to Leuzinger gave the Tartars a 5-4-1 league-play record and ultimately kept the team out of the playoffs. The Tartars will be back next year with the intent of taking the Pioneer League crown. North High Like the Torrance Tartars, the North High Saxons boys soccer team missed out on a chance to make this year’s CIF playoffs. A 3-6-1 record in league play was ultimately the teams undoing, finishing with an overall record of 11-9-3, good enough for fifth place in the Pioneer League standings. The Saxons experienced success outside of their own league, opening the year up with a 4-0 win over Hawthorne. They later beat both Redondo and El Segundo, both by final scores of 3-1. North’s misfortunate came inside of their league, where they were swept by South High and Leuzinger. The Saxons went on to split their season series with Torrance, and lost and tied versus West. West High The West High Warriors finished this year’s soccer season with an overall record of 7-11-4 and 5-4-1 in league play. Two losses to Palos Verdes Peninsula and Loyola followed by a four game losing streak got West off to a very slow start, but the team rebounded once league play began, beating Leuzinger, North and Centennial for their first three-game winning streak of the year. The Warriors wound up sweeping both Centennial and Leuzinger on the season, but two losses to South and Torrance kept West out of the playoffs and in fourth place in this year’s Pioneer League standings. • www.ThinkGood.org JOBS OPPORTUNITY HOPE In 2015, we assisted more than 11,000 individuals and placed 435 of them into employment.
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