Repetitive stress points

Do the Lakers have enough firepower to win a second consecutive championship? Definitely. Do they have enough experience? For sure. Can they combine the two to take home the franchise’s 16th title, one shy of the Boston Celtics? Maybe.

With visions of their 0-3 road swoon this month still in mind, not to mention two unspectacular home victories this past weekend against the dregs of the NBA, here are 10 reasons the Lakers might not repeat as champions, five supplied by readers of the Times’ Lakers Blog (complete with rejoinders by Times beat writer Mike Bresnahan) and five supplied by Bresnahan, who is in his sixth season covering the Lakers.

Fans’ five

1) The fans say: “The Lakers have no dependable three-point threat anymore. ‘The Machine’ has been broken for a long time now, Derek Fisher is aging, Jordan Farmar is inconsistent. Where is our Steve Kerr?”

Bresnahan says: “I was sending out a Twitter dispatch from last week’s Sacramento game, something to the effect of ‘Sasha Vujacic is on fire!’ and then realized he had scored six points, which was ‘on fire’ only for him. If Vujacic doesn’t improve quickly and if Fisher doesn’t find his three-point touch (he’s down to 34.9%, almost a five-point drop from last season), teams will start sagging off the Lakers’ shooters and pack the lane. It could get ugly later in the playoffs.”

2) The fans say: “The defense is way too inconsistent. The Lakers seem to have problems with the role players, making them look better than they are actually are.”

Bresnahan says: “Quentin Richardson had 25 points and seven three-pointers against the Lakers. Phoenix backup Louis Amundson had a double-double. Golden State center Chris Hunter, a guy I never knew existed until he played against the Lakers last week, had 22 points. And that’s just this month. Think Jamario Moon, Rodrigue Beaubois, Marcin Gortat and Anthony Carter are aware of it?”

3) The fans say: “Lamar Odom is too inconsistent. The X-factor needs to be the consistent factor. How can this guy not even win sixth man of the year if he’s supposedly a starter level? He sometimes takes shots completely out of sequence and often pretends to be a mini-Magic.”

Bresnahan says: “I’m still waiting for Odom to turn the corner this season. His scoring is down from a year ago, his shooting percentage is down and his turnovers are up. He could be lots and lots in a box but is sometimes only as good as a Filet-O-Fish value meal, which, let’s face it, isn’t very good.”

4) The fans say: “The Lakers are 8-9 against the other top teams in the league (Cleveland, Orlando, Dallas, Denver, Atlanta, Utah and Boston). You can talk all you want about ‘It’s a different story in the playoffs’ . . . but their record against these teams is a good indicator of how they’ll fare in the playoffs.”

Bresnahan says: “I’m going to talk about how it’s a different story in the playoffs. In other words, I’m not buying this one. The Lakers were 0-2 against Orlando in the 2008-09 regular season and had no problem beating the Magic in the NBA Finals. Let’s move on.”

5) The fans say: “Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol will wear out at the end of the season because of the last few years of international play, and with the Lakers going all the way to the Finals, they haven’t really rested during the off-season. It seems like it’s starting to catch up with them this season.”

Bresnahan says: “The worrisome part for Lakers fans is that Bryant’s minutes are up. Way up. He’s playing 38.9 minutes a game, an increase from 36.1 last season. It’s a testimony to how close the Lakers’ games have been this season. Not nearly enough blowouts to get Bryant adequate in-game rest. He played 40 minutes against Washington the other night because the Lakers couldn’t put away the Wizards. Forty minutes. Against the Wizards. Such nights should be remembered if the Lakers look tired in May or June.”

Bresnahan’s five

1) Time to get physical. Gasol was strong in the playoffs last season, standing up to intimidation (Denver Nuggets, anybody?) and pushing back whenever he was shoved. He’ll need to do the same if the Lakers get the Nuggets again in the Western Conference playoffs and happen to play Cleveland in the Finals. (Stat to remember: Gasol averaged an insignificant 12 points and eight rebounds while shooting 37.5% in two losses to the physically imposing Cavaliers this season.)

2) The Ron Artest experiment continues to move forward. Then backward. Then sideways. Artest will have memorable games (Denver, Carmelo Anthony, seven-for-19 shooting, Feb. 28) followed by not-so-memorable games (Orlando, Vince Carter, 25 points, March 7).

The Artest-for-Ariza free-agent swap should be judged over a period of years, not months, but Minnesota Timberwolves Coach Kurt Rambis said it best a few days ago when he called Ariza a fluid three-point shooter with sneaky-good defensive skills before saying that Artest was, well, uh, a strong guy. Artest needs a slew of sturdy playoff showings to swing momentum in his favor.

3) It’s been a little more than two weeks since Gasol last spoke about the need for more balance on offense after watching Bryant shoot 12 for 30 against Orlando. Since then, the Lakers have won six consecutive games and Gasol has averaged 21.9 points on 63.2% shooting. Everybody’s happy.

A good leader continually takes notice of what’s going on around him. Bryant would be smart to keep his big men involved, sacrificing two or three shots a game to find Gasol or Andrew Bynum down low. It’s not a lot. Really.

4) The Lakers need to improve their pick-and-roll defense, a crucial phrase that could be cut-and-pasted from plenty of stories during the Shaquille O’Neal era. Bynum, like O’Neal, doesn’t always jump out on opposing guards after a Lakers guard gets erased on a screen. Bynum is too concerned about his man scoring and often gets caught in a gray area, neither harassing the opposing guard nor sticking to his man.

Bynum had been better in recent weeks before getting hurt Friday. When he comes back, he’ll need to stay aggressive in pick-and-roll situations and jump out on opposing guards while the Lakers’ defense recovers, if only for a few precious seconds.

5) It’s just not that easy. The NBA hasn’t had a repeat champion since the Lakers in 2002, the final chapter of their three-championship run. The truth for the Lakers, and their fans, is that nothing less than a championship will be satisfactory this season. Maybe there will be another party at the Coliseum. Maybe there won’t be. Only the month of June holds the answers.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

WHAT

WORRIES

THE FANS:

1) They have no dependable three-point threat.

2) The defense is way too inconsistent.

3) Lamar Odom is too inconsistent.

4) They are 8-9 against the other top teams in the league.

5) Kobe

Bryant and Pau Gasol will wear out at

season’s end.

WHAT

WORRIES MIKE BRESNAHAN:

1) They need to get more physical.

2) Ron Artest needs to prove his worth.

3) Bryant should keep his big men

involved.

4) They need to improve their pick-and-roll defense.

5) It’s just not that easy to be a repeat champion.