Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
This is about what you’d expect of Mike D’Antoni ball when there is nothing to anchor it in the middle. Without their top three big men the Lakes played small ball which in D’Antoni terms is nothing more than glorified pickup ball.
Mostly unwatchable, this one got out of hand quick in the third quarter as the Lake Show gave away their lead for good before folding 125-112 to the Houston Rockets.
If you thought the Lakers played no D before then wait until they get a couple more of these sloppy shorthanded contests under their belt in the coming week. This one was hardly an NBA game more resembling what you’d expect to see at any open gym.
First there are some props in order.
Steve Nash recorded his 10,000th career assist tonight putting the future Hall of Famer in very exclusive company. Up next in Nash’s sights is none other than Laker Legend Magic Johnson sitting 130+ assists in front of the current L.A. floor general.
That was about the only good news of the night for the Lakers. Everything else is negative. Yet another loss as the streak now hits four with no end in sight.
With no true big men the Lakers played a brand of ugly one-on-one ball that will never be good enough to win in this league.
Most of the shots that went up tonight were forced. There was no flow as the Lake Show just ran the floor all night rarely getting into an offensive set.
For whatever it’s worth Kobe Bryant didn’t lead the Lakers in scoring tonight. Very much a rarity these days. Today it was Metta World Peace with 24 that led the way for the Lakers’ wayward attack. Nash posted another pointless double-double going for 16 and 10.
But nothing the Lakers do on offense matters when the Rockets were able to get out in transition, find mismatches, exploit them and then repeat.
James Harden led all scorers with 31 while Jeremy Lin got off for 19 bucking his recent trend of poor performances against the Lakers.
But the real story of this one is revealed in the bottom line.
Bottom line you’re not going to win when the opposition shoots 55% as the Rockets did.
Bottom line you’re not going to make the playoffs if these results keep piling up.
Bottom line…this season is pretty much over.