I'll be honest - upon hearing the news that KMart could be lost for the year (coupled with the similar, now hopefully false alarm re: Ty Lawson), my initial reaction was something along the lines of "Game over man! Game over!"

But then I took a deep breath. And I read the "NUGGETS SEASON OVER" fanpost from the cowardly, pathetic melloyello, who is apparently so pants-wetting terrified of a WCF rematch with Nuggets that he cheers for injuries. That's when I realized before we all start slitting our collective wrists, we should keep in mind the following:

1. Nothing's for sure yet. Until we hear from the horse's mouth that KMart's shut down for the year, no point in stressing over hypotheticals.

2. Last season's Houston Rockets. They lost their TWO premiere players and still managed to take LA to the brink. It can be done.

3. No guarantees in this league. Yeah, beating a healthy Lakers squad in the WCF with no KMart is a tall order, but there are a lot of assumptions in that scenario. The Lakers bigs have been just as prone to injury over the years as ours, and Kobe's been nicked up all year. Who's to say they don't lose just as big a piece coming down the stretch, or that a hot/scrappy OKC or Phoenix squad doesn't take em out first? That's why they play the games.

4. Joey Graham. He's not KMart and plays more a 3 than a 4, but I think he's got the size, strength and attitude to bang against opponents on D and maybe even add a few new wrinkles on offense. He'll have to step it up, but from what I've seen in his limited minutes this year, I think he could be up to it.

5. The X Factor. Could be anything from Nene playing in beast mode full time to Ty coming back from his (hopefully likewise non-season ending) injury better than ever to JR finally emerging as the full-on superstar we know he can be to the team simply digging deep and finding inspiration in their coach's cancer battle. You never know how circumstances will affect - again, that's why they play the games.

Losing KMart would be brutal, no question, but the bottom line is nothing's over 'til the Nuggets decide it is. If any team has shown an ability to take a punch and battle in the face of the adversity over the last few years, it's them. So long as they don't quit on us, I'm not about to quit on them.

(And to melloyello and any other Laker fans popping champagne over this KMart thing, just remember: what goes around, comes around. We'll be seeing you REAL soon.)