Sympathy for the Lakers? Not until they earn it

ESPN: The Los Angeles Lakers should know by now not to expect any pity. The Lakers surely understand that they traded away their rights to sympathy, maybe permanently, when they shipped so little to Memphis and stole Pau Gasol.

The infamous foul that wasn’t called on Derek Fisher in the San Antonio series won’t soon be forgotten, either.

So …

As unfair as a fuming Phil Jackson found the Game 2 free-throw count — and as frustrating as it had to be for L.A. to fall just short after Sunday night’s epic fourth-quarter scramble — this is the Lakers’ reality:

No one with a neutral interest in these NBA Finals is bound to feel sorry for the Zen Men, because the Lakers wouldn’t be here without the midseason gift of Gasol from the Grizzlies. Or because they clinched a series-turning road win over the savvy Spurs on a non-call that the league later publicly acknowledged as erroneous.

Or because the Boston Celtics happen to be outplaying them in so many categories.

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