The Lakers made some undesired history on Sunday afternoon, as they were shelled by the Mavs 122-73 in Dallas, with the 49 point loss setting a franchise record for incompetence.
If you tuned in for a January game between two teams with a combined win percentage of .333 while the NFC championship was decided, there are only so many options; you’re either a) a diehard fan, b) have a gambling problem, c) have a family member on either the Lakers or Mavs, or d) get some sort of weird satisfaction from watching bad basketball.
And if it was bad basketball you came for, at least you got plenty of it — a historically bad performance by the Lakers, actually. The game was so ugly it temporarily broke my brain’s ability to formulate a normal recap, so let’s run through a few key takeaways from the destruction in Dallas.
The starting five was a tire fire
The starting unit of Brandon Ingram at point-forward, alongside Timofey Mozgov, Julius Randle, Luol Deng, and Nick Young, had played a grand total of zero minutes together this season, and it showed against the Mavs.
As our friend Mo over at The Jumpball just noted, Ingram has been playing well of late, averaging 11.5 points per game and connecting on 44 percent of his 3-pointers in January. His playmaking ability, combined with his 7’3 wingspan, have Lakers fans anxious to see what he’s capable of in a few seasons. Yet running an offensive unit — especially this offensive unit — at 19-years-old is still a heavy burden to carry.
Despite his recent hot shooting from downtown, Ingram does his best work attacking off the dribble. But playing alongside two other guys who best operate near the rim in Moz and Ju was a recipe for disaster — it closed down the lanes for LA and allowed Dallas to overplay the two shooters on the floor in Young and Deng. The result was an especially static group that failed to create driving opportunities for Randle and Ingram, leading to an inability to break down the defense and manufacture quality looks from the outside.
Not to pin it all on Ingram, but his stat line was a microcosm of the entire squad — a team-worst minus-45 for the game, on 2-12 shooting and only one combined rebound and assist.
“The Lakers are playing great without D’Angelo Russell. They have the Mavericks exactly where they want them” pic.twitter.com/8fiWYqqdjY
— Daman Rangoola (@damanr) January 22, 2017
The entire offense was a wreck without D’Angelo
When you get beat down by 49 points, there’s more than just the starters to point out. Pick a number, any number, because they all paint a Mona Lisa of ineptitude. 39 percent from the field. An 11-16 assist-to-turnover ratio. Connecting on only 3-21 from behind the line. Going five minutes in the first half without a point. All of it wasn’t pretty.
The D’Angelo Russell haters love to rag on him for his uneven play and potentially lackluster leadership qualities. Hey, maybe there’s something there. But the offense simply functions better with him on the floor, and that’s come even with heavy minutes alongside Moz and Deng (read: if you can improve the offense with those two anvils around your neck, that’s a good sign).
Set aside his ability to spread the floor or probe the lane — the ball simply moves better with D’Angelo on the floor. This is evident when watching the team without him on the floor, and underlined by the team’s 8.7 percent drop in assist percentage when he’s on the sideline.
Moz has so little touch on his jump hooks that it's really incredible. Also incredible that he's still allowed to post-up.
— Ben Rosales (@brosales12) January 22, 2017
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The defense was just as abysmal
The Purple & Gold came into the game ranked 29th in the league in defensive efficiency. It isn’t breaking news to point out their defensive struggles, but it was certainly on full display against the Mavs. Dallas routinely found open looks in the first half by running their high screen-and-roll action with Dirk Nowitzki and Deron Williams. LA had trouble sticking with Williams coming off the pick, and as LA scrambled to help, Dallas worked the ball to the outside for wide open 3s. Dallas hit 9-20 from downtown in the first half, including five combined from Seth Curry and Wes Matthews.
Compounding matters for the Lakers was their inability to keep Dallas off the offensive glass. The Mavs came into the game with the second-worst offensive rebounding percentage in the league, collecting only eight offensive boards per game. But they grabbed eight in the first half alone and 14 for the game. I’m no Tom Thibodeau, but if you let a team shoot nearly 50 percent from the floor, connect on 17 3-pointers, and get worked on the glass, you’re probably going to give up 122 points.
Next: Which Lakers should be at All-Star Weekend?
Besides that, everything went great for the Lakers. LA will look to bounce back against the Blazers on Wednesday night in Portland, in a battle between two teams vying for the eighth seed (just humor me).