Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Takeaways from loss to Philadelphia 76ers
By Ronald Agers
The Los Angeles Lakers are in trouble…I mean deep trouble. The Lakers are trying hard to put up a brave front, but they have all the qualities of a team full of flaws and on the verge of an embarrassing collapse. The second Anthony Davis made his desire to be traded out of New Orleans with a rumored “desire” to come to Los Angeles, the potential disasters predicted by many in the offseason are coming.
I’ll bet the Lakers moves behind the scenes will be better drama than anything that goes on the All-Star weekend.
Magic Johnson felt the need to travel with the team and address all of the drama surrounding a team who probably set a NBA record for offering 90 percent of the team for one player. Maybe it was that 42 point low-key mutiny against the Indiana Pacers two days before the trade deadline.
Maybe it was to save face. Maybe it was a rallying call. Whatever it was, on Sunday, it did not work.
The Los Angeles Lakers did their own version of the movie Varsity Blues when the team quit on Bud Kilmer in his last game getting blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers 143-120. I mean didn’t the team win without their coach in the movie?
It’s hard to imagine that a road game against the Atlanta Hawks is a must game for the LeBron James led team but, this is a must-win game against a Hawks team that plays hard. This is the quality of team that the Lakers seem to struggle against these days. This is not a gimme game, it’s a trap game.
The game plan is something that you are going to have to let Luke Walton describe because to be honest with you, I’m just as confused as the rest of the fans. Replacing a guy in Rajon Rondo, who basically kept the team together (somewhat) and saves the season with a huge game winning shot with Reggie Bullock who just showed up like what…37 seconds ago?
Whatever chemistry that was built from the Boston game is now null and void. It threw Rondo’s game off noticeably. Even though he had 7 assists, he did not score. He wasn’t alone in his scoring futility.
For the people who have a problem with Lonzo Ball and for the record, LaVar Ball did not hand me money to say this. The Lakers need that man in the lineup if they are going to make the playoffs.
Why? Because the man brings a defensive presence that this team is sorely lacking right now. The Lakers can’t stop anybody and believe me in this game, just like the Indy game, they did not try.
What was worse, the Sixers knew it. When Ben Simmons tries a 3-point shot, there is no fear of retribution at all. They nearly burned the building down with their hot shooting, knocking down 57.3 percent from the field. To put this in perspective, the Sixers were on pace to score 134.3 points per 100 possessions. At that rate, I could recruit four readers from this article alone and score on this bunch. The Lakers tallied the second worst defensive efficiency rate of the season (You don’t have to go too far back to find the worst.)
The Lakers are giving up 135 points a game over this bad recent stretch. The transition defense seems to be optional at times like stopping Joel EmBiid on the break.
Allowing J.J. Redick to try H-O-R-S-E shots on the break…
Plus allowing penetration for JaVale to be dunked on for the millionth time.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.