Los Angeles Lakers fandom is experiencing another dull, tired, angry dose of basketball depression. The Lakers lost to the worst team in the league: the tanking Phoenix Suns tonight in what is probably their eighth "new low point" of the season. They were down by 10-18 points for the majority of a game, but a last second fourth quarter run gave Laker fans hope. Sadly, things turned out the way they usually do when the Lakers play shitty teams this year. They lose.

After this defeat, the Lakers are now four and a half games out of the eighth and final playoff seed with 20 games remaining. The playoffs are an even longer shot than they were before. Blame is going to fly rampantly now that the Lakers are staring down the real risk of missing the postseason in LeBron's first year.

Everybody is at fault at some length here. Jeanie Buss, LeBron, Luke Walton, Magic & Pelinka, the veterans, and much further down the list is are the performances of the young core. The young Laker ballers probably deserve the least amount of blame here, particularly Kuzma and Ingram who have been balling at this crucial stretch. Kuz, Ingram, and a hobbled Josh Hart are the three people I can confidently say are giving it their all with their season on the line. Can we just cancel the rest of the Lakers season to save us the embarrassment of more putrid losses?

Source: Silver Screen & Roll

Rhythm Of The Game

The Lakers capped things off by getting totally embarrassed in the rebounding department by DeAndre Ayton and the lowly Suns. Brandon Ingram's scoring rhythm still looked nice, which was one of the few early positives for the Lakeshow. LA had several chances to cut the nine-point Suns lead to a single-possession game, but they just couldn't convert their easy looks. Frustrating to watch. Suns lead 33-26.

And the second quarter was even worse folks. The Lakeshow were basically swimming upstream the entire time. Phoenix was just outplaying the Lakers. It could've been because this is the second half of a back-to-back set for LA. Couple that low energy with Phoenix's red-hot shooting (25/39) and you had an annoying hole you have to dig youself out of. Suns with the seven-point lead heading into the third, 59-66. Were we about to achieve a new low in this tumultuous Laker season?

Well if we learned anything from the third quarter, it's that no potential low way too low for this iteration of the Lakers. Phoenix held a ten-plus point lead and was playing with al the energy in the world, while the Lakers looked absolutely defeated. This was a must-win game, and Phoenix was coming off the second night of a back to back too! Zero excuses in this game. If you can't beat the worst team in the league with your season on the line, your season deserves to end here. By now, I was already contemplating life beyond this Lakers season. Suns ahead 78-95 as we trudged into the fourth.

LeBron started the fourth quarter on the bench, with the team down 17 in the fourth and the season on the line. Why the hell was Luke doing that? Bron came back a couple of minutes into the fourth, but the Lakers were still playing like an utter embarrassment. Once we hit the halfway mark, the purple and gold did manage to draw up some momentum during a 10-3 run. They looked like they were knocking on the door of a miraculous rally, but a LeBron foul on a three-point shot totally put out the fire.

Source: NBC Los Angeles

The game had a chance to break one way or the other at this dire moment, but two straight big possessions by LeBron cut the game to eight with five minutes still to go! A colossal and-1 bucket with some Suns bench trash talk, and a deep three at the top of the arc. A Suns 24-second violation followed suit, and then Ingram sank a corner three several possessions later! That cut it to a five-point game, but a Devin Booker jumper pushed it back to seven. 3:30 still left to play.

JaVale immediately got a dunk off a LeBron bounce pass to bring it back to five. Some baskets were exchanged but it stayed around five until we were at the one-minute mark. Bron drove down the baseline for a huge slam to cut it to three! It was a one-possession game. DeAndre Ayton got the ball in the post with Josh Hart defending him, and he drew the blocking foul which was arguably an offensive foul! Two free throws pushed it back to five. LeBron got the ball and charged down the full length of the court to the hoop - and drew the foul. He went to the line with an opportunity to cut it to three with 45 seconds to play - but he missed BOTH free throws! Phoenix recovered the rebound, they went back to the line, and the Lakers just didn't have enough time to mount the miraculous comeback. Suns win, Lakers with the disgusting loss

Takeaways

I didn't really want to write this article after the Lakers lost to the worst team in the league. But as someone who has watched almost every game this year, I'm not surprised one bit. Matter of fact - I'm even more nervous when the team we play is trash but our stakes are high. The easy, "must win" games are funnily enough the most difficult type of game for these 2018-19 Lakers.

It's hard coming up with fresh takeaways after another predictable loss to another shitty team, only this time it was literally the SHITTIEST team. If there was a way to do so, I'd like to file a request with the Los Angeles Lakers to just cancel the rest of their season at this point. I have so little faith in them.

Source: Yahoo Sports

Injuries were the reason this potentially interesting team would never reach its potential, but you can't use injuries as an excuse in losses to teams of the Sun's caliber. If they only took care of business in their "guaranteed wins" this year against the Suns, Hawks, Pelicans(without AD), Grizzlies, Knicks, and Cavs, they'd be in the playoff picture right now. A team that doesn't do their job in the easiest of circumstances won't make it into the postseason. Last night's loss against the worst team in the league was symbolic of all the shortcomings of this Laker season.

While injuries aren't' an excuse for losing against the league's bottom feeders, they prevented the team from establishing any type of rhythm of identity, which ultimately capped their ceiling. The constant barrage of injuries affected their ability to experience continuity, which is how the best teams stay thriving in this league. You only have to look as far as the pre-KD Warriors and Manu-Tony-Duncan Spurs to see a properly run organization that prioritizes continuity and culture-building over star-hunting and crossing their fingers on shaky players with one-year deals.

The Lakers problems go beyond Magic, Luke, LeBron, and the up and down veterans though. I really think if this organization is going to experience consistent winning again, Jeanie Buss needs to take a look in the mirror at her own motivations/decisions. Magic and Pelinka were hired because they have strong ties to the Laker bloodline, not because they were the most qualified candidates.

Jeanie should've conducted a more thorough search on who would be the best general managers to run the front office based on their previous resume (because Magic and Pelinka don't have any FO experience), and their willingness to embrace the ever-changing style of the league. Getting LeBron to come was huge, and they deserve credit for that, but the team prioritizing wild facilitators over stable shooters this off-season was one of their primary downfalls.

Hopefully Magic & Pelinka recognize this shortcoming instead of getting all puffed up in their pride, but I don't reasonably expect this to happen. If Magic & Pelinka can't swallow their pride and come to their senses, then I hope Jeanie has the self-awareness to say, "I messed up. I gave you a chance because you're close to the Laker family. I need to start over and pick the most qualified person to do this."

The same can be said about Luke Walton. Even though when he was the hottest coaching commodity in the market coming off his assistant coach role at Golden State, we've had three seasons with him now and I haven't seen enough growth to warrant keeping him around. He just doesn't look like he has the chops to lead a group like this to the promised land. The offense is too bland, and the rotations are out of wack. I could see Luke succeeding as a head coach somewhere else in the NBA, but the ship has sailed with the Lakers.