Lakers play the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, their second meeting. In their first game, the Jazz beat the Lakers by 9 points.
Just your ordinary victory over the Boston Celtics on February 22nd. Jeremy Lin had 25 points. Wesley Johnson had 22 points. Carlos Boozer was in the starting lineup. Byron Scott, refusing to foul in the closing seconds, sent the game into overtime.
It would have been one of those forgettable games between two former rivals who have now fallen off the map if it wasn’t for the Lakers celebration that mirrored a game 7 playoff win. For a team with a 4-19 record since January 1st, their behavior drew criticism and disgust from old-timer Lakers fans and, naturally, from Kobe Bryant himself, who is as close to the Whiplash character, Terence Fletcher, as the NBA has ever seen.
In the movie Whiplash, Fletcher, the psychotic teacher, proudly says, “The worst words in the English language are good job.”
Note to Lakers: you are 14-41. Celebrate when you get the #1 or #2 pick in the draft, not when you actually do the things you are being paid to do, like play hard.
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That said, the Celtics are still despised in this town, regardless of who is wearing the uniforms. Byron did his due diligence and put the best team he had on the floor for the most minutes to get the win. Now, in Utah, he can go back to his strategy of winning as few games as possible by putting useless combinations together. And the Lakers can go back to being glum and disinterested again.
The Lakers roster is getting shorter and shorter as injured players have their seasons cut short. The latest is Ronnie Price. Surgery for Price ended his season which is good news for Jeremy Lin. Lin will get the minutes he should have had two months ago, albeit in a reserve role. In his ever bizarre treatment of Lin, Scott has shown the willingness to play him late in games when Lin has been productive.
The last time the Lakers and Jazz played in Utah, Gordon Hayward had 31 points and 7 assists. Derrick Favors had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Trey Burke had 20 points and 4 assists. With Ryan Kelly and Robert Sacre in the starting lineup, don’t expect those numbers to change.
The Lakers haven’t won two games in a row since December 12th when they beat the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio, in overtime. No team in the NBA has been that miserable since. The Philadelphia 76ers have won two games in a row, three times. The New York Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves have won two games in a row, once.
That’s all the evidence needed to make the point the Lakers are the worst team in the NBA.
Next: Lakers News: Kobe Has No Words For Excessive Celebration