Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Congrats, Jim Buss! You’re engineering one of the biggest epic fails in the history of sports.
The Los Angeles Lakers were assumed to be title contenders this season. The reality is this team will be lucky to make the playoffs. If you think I’m hating then you clearly did not watch tonight’s 117-110 loss to the Utah Jazz.
Coming into tonight’s contest the Jazz were among the bottom dwellers in offense and had won just once in eight road games against Western Conference competition. Well…neither of those useless facts held true.
Utah shot an unreal 54% as a team taking all of the air out of Staples as the Lake Show gave up a season high in points.
There is no direction on offense for L.A. which leads to costly turnovers and easy buckets for the opposition. Even worse is the total lack of commitment on defense. Mike D’Antoni is living up to his billing as being defensively inept.
Enes Kanter bullied the Lakers in the paint while Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap did whatever they wanted. Dwight Howard’s defensive prowess alone is not enough. D’Antoni really needs to hire a consultant because the idea of funneling everything to D12 is proving problematic.
Offensively the Lakers are scoring more than enough even if they are highly inefficient points. Of course nobody ever said offense wins championships.
Kobe Bryant again eclipsed 30 points dropping a game high 34. Once again the Lakers lost. That is a trend becoming all too familiar.
Something else that is becoming a familiar refrain is the “wait for Steve Nash to return” motto. Let’s be honest. Nash is not known for defense and right now that is the Lake Show’s biggest problem. How is he going to help that?
The bigger question is how is Coach D’Antoni going to get his team above .500?
D’Antoni made it clear that he thinks the team is better without Pau Gasol. Why else would he ride Antawn Jamison in the clutch? Well, he got his wish as the Spaniard continues to sit with knee problems yet the results are not any different.
Even worse is D’Antoni cannot inspire a champion’s effort. He even admitted to his team being effort-challenged. Yet another bad sign and yet another reason why none of us should hold out hopes for a title.
The calendar might only read December but this season is effectively over. Nothing is improving. The losses are mounting and the road to contention is getting more and more difficult. Jim Buss really knows how to pick his coaches. If he was looking for the best way possible to piss away the chance at a title then his mission is accomplished. Please, Trust Fund Buss, take the rest of the year off. Your team already has.