I think this has no doubt been the worst season of Laker basketball that I've ever seen in my life. I'm now contemplating whether it's the worst season of basketball for a fanbase ever given the preseason expectations and the end result. What do you think is the worst season of basketball ever if you compare expectations to the end result? Let me know if you can think of any other good candidates in the comments. Let's get some discussion going.
After signing the consensus greatest player in the world in LeBron James the Lakers rightfully came into this year with minimum expectations of a playoff appearance, but on Monday night they were practically eliminated from them by their figurative little brother of a franchise: the LA Clippers.
If they were able to get full seasons of work from Lonzo Ball and LeBron James, I guarantee they would've made the playoffs. Those two are the most important members of the team on each side of the ball. Lonzo is arguably our defensive spirit animal, while LeBron is the machine that makes the offense go. Even if they still had the 12-game absence of Ingram, extended absence of Rondo, and absences from JaVale McGee, I'm confident they would've made the postseason. Brandon Ingram was out tonight by the way. His presence would've made a noticeable difference.
A season that's now effectively over....but we still have eighteen games to play. If you're interested, take a look at the Rhythm of the Game for the sad recap, and Takeaways for afterthoughts
Rhythm Of The Game
There are a couple of times I've watched Laker games this year and thought, "I couldn't believe my eyes". Usually, that's for negative reasons. Tonight it was different. I couldn't believe what I was seeing because the 2019 Los Angeles Lakers actually managed to come out with some freakin' pride in a must-win game. They ended the first quarter up eight on the "visiting" Clippers 26-34 thanks to a clear improvement in defensive focus and near-visible sense of urgency. Ithe introductory minutes were sure promising, but we were about to see if they could keep it up for 36 more of them.
But the second quarter came and it started going in a direction I anticipated. The Clippers bench came in spearheaded by Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrel, who then proceeded to cut it to a one-possession game, 33-36. The small lead was short-lived, and the Clipper bench just rallied as a whole to puff it up to a six-point advantage of their own before the Lakers punched back. A couple of timely threes then tied it all back up at 52. The second quarter was a tense exchange of leads and ties as both squads fought for their playoff lives. This was a must-win for the Clipshow too! When the dust settled, it was LA's redheaded step-child franchise who walked into halftime with the mild four-point advantage, 61-57.
The third was turning into another tense battle of dire playoff circumstances for the two LA teams - only the Lakers were in a little more desperate of a position. The Clipshow led for the majority of the quarter until guys like Rondo and Josh Hart stepped up to provide some offense, eventually tying it back up at 82.
Rondo was having a hell of an offensive game, breaking 20 points for the first time in what felt like forever. The Lakers tides felt like they were about to change for the better, but of course, the Clippers stepped in and said, "that' ain't gonna happen." A buzzer-beating Reggie Bullock three saved some face, but the Lakers faced a five-point hole heading into the fourth, 91-86.
The Lakers seemed to face this uphill battle with a determined grin. Out of the gate, Rondo and LeBron both came out way more aggressive than usual in looking for their own shot, to which they both did with promising results. Rajon already had 24-8-10 on 10/16 while Bron put in 23-7-6 on 7/15 with seven minutes to go in the fourth. They seemed like they were actually treating it like a must-win game (I can't believe I have to be thankful for that)
Still Rondo was taking these three-pointers that I feel like he had no business shooting. He shot them because the Clippers left him wide open, but I thought by doing that we were just allowing the bricks to play into their plan. Rondo had a lot of success driving to the rim tonight, I wish he'd just stick with that attack.
But then we were struck with a sudden, unfortunate happening. With the Clippers threating a ten-point lead, Kuzma drove right of the hoop and elevated for an interior muscle bucket, but he badly sprained his ankle on the lift-off. The Lakers were already without Ingram in this game because of shoulder soreness, now Kuz had to limp into the locker room face grimacing in pain. Now it felt like LeBron was really the only weapon we had left. Were we going to get a game-saving performance from him? This was his moment of truth.
The answer was no. Nothing encapsulated it better than one play with about four minutes left where the Lakers moved the ball around the floor beautifully, only for LeBron to drive in for a wide-open layup...that missed. They couldn't muster anything up after that, their goose was cooked. The Lakers on court were being showered in a rain of boos as time expired in a Clippers win, 113-105.
Takeaways
I don't know what else to say about this team that I haven't already said here on Scorum. Since day 1 of the season, I've been with this team taking note of the flaws and praying that the positives would carry us forward to a respectable berth in the postseason. Our first in 5 or 6 years. Things really went down the drain after the AD trade deadline drama and this last-second playoff push. The team as a whole just didn't perform. Most of them didn't even look like they cared out there, except for Ingram Kuzma, and Hart.
You know why the veterans faltered and didn't care about this year though? Because the Lakers gave them one-year deals. JaVale, Rondo, Lance, Beasley, and KCP all are playing for their next contract. You'd think that would motivate them to give 100% to please a potential suitor, but instead, I think it only served to aggravate their stress when they received inconsistent minutes and wavered in their production. Why should they take pride in being a Laker? The team just views them as expendable anyway. It only makes the young stars look better for putting up solid numbers and showing pride in this post-All Star playoff push.
But we knew this roster was flawed from the start. Right after LeBron signed, I wrote an article giving my play-by-play reactions to our free agents we signed outside of LeBron, and I continuously found myself struck with disbelief at the team they were surrounding LeBron and the kids with. Everyone knows the formula with LeBron is you surround him with shooters that can cover up his defensive deficiencies in day-to-day regular season games.
Well, Magic and Pelinka tried to zig while everyone else would've zagged, surrounding him with what they thought were gritty, playoff-tested playmakers. There were flashed of where Lance, Rondo, KCP, JaVale, Chandler, and Beasley all made me thought, "Hey, maybe they still have something left in the tank!." But it was only in spots. I don't think these guys can be consistent players at this point in their career anymore. KCP might have the best chance because he's still in his mid-twenties, but the other four are cooked.
And don't even get me started on this Zubac trade. WE SURRENDERED OUR BEST YOUNG BIG MAN WHO WAS TURNING A CORNER FOR MIKE FUCKIN MUSCALA WHO IS A STRETCH FIVE WHO CAN'T EVEN STRETCH SHIT! I swear I've only seen that bum make one three-pointer in a Laker uniform. The front office justified this by saying they needed to trade Zubac....to cut Beasley.
Well, they could've just bought out his contract and cut him straight up!!! You didn't have to surrender a talented, young, cheap asset. That gesture of incompetence makes me wonder though, do Magic and Pelinka know the god damn rules of what a front office can do? Their other reason for justifying the Zubac trade was because JaVale was moping about his minutes.....
Well, congratulations guys! JaVale got a bigger dose of minutes and couldn't hold down our starting center spot, and he gets beat out almost every time on rebounds while making middling bigs look like All-Stars with his porous defense. Coupled with the fact Chandler is just too old to make a meaningful difference anymore too. The Zubac trade absolutely murdered our big man depth and cost us a promising asset, and we didn't even have to do it. In my opinion, that's the most indefensible move this front office had made.
The best course of action might just be to tank. Get your odds higher of receiving a better draft pick. They've lost the respect of every Laker fan in LA, so who cares. Go 100% in on the negativity. The sheer amount of satisfaction I'd get at us somehow landing Zion Williamson with the #1 pick.....I'd probably just die laughing in the Pelicans direction, tears still laying wet upon my face.
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