WATCH: Buddy Hield embarrasses Lakers Quinn Cook twice on Thursday
By Jason Reed
Los Angeles Lakers point guard Quinn Cook got cooked against Buddy Hield.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Quinn Cook made headlines earlier in the Orlando bubble for his surprise performance in a loss to the Indiana Pacers. Cook scored 21 points against Indiana, which was the second-most points he scored in a game this season.
Cook did not look so great in Thursday’s loss against the Sacramento Kings. Cook had two terrible defensive possessions (and a really bad pass) that he should not be proud of. Simply put: Buddy Hield embarrassed him.
Let’s look at the tape.
The caption might be “Oh no LeBron” but Quinn Cook deserves just as much to be on the SportsCenter Not Top 10 as LeBron does. Cook’s second pass to LeBron, which looked to be an attempt at an alley-oop, was almost as bad as Danny Green’s failed alley-oop a few games ago.
Cook literally thew it behind the backboard. Were LeBron to have magically pulled it in behind the backboard, wrap it around the glass and finish then it would have been a dunk that was worthy of the dunk contest. Instead, it became a lowlight.
Then, to make matters worse, Cook goes back to the other end of the floor to play defense on Buddy Hield and gets jelly legs. Cook’s only saving grace is that Hield lost the ball behind his back and fell on it, taking away the attention from Cook getting cooked by Hield.
Quinn Cook was not as lucky the second time against Buddy Hield.
Hield was unable to make anything of giving Quinn Cook jelly legs in that possession but he made the most of it later in the game. After recovering a loose ball that was knocked out by Talen Horton-Tucker, Hield crossed near the half-court line and drove.
Quinn Cook stood no chance. He literally did not even stand — his case of jelly legs returned and he fell, allowing Hield a free lane to the three-point line, where he drained the shot at the buzzer with Markieff Morris’ hand in his face.
For Cook’s sake, at least this game did not mean anything for either team. With it being a Thursday matinee game there likely were not many eyes on this lowlight, because this is not a good look at all.
And if it makes Quinn Cook feel better… a lot of people get crossed over by Buddy Hield. Sometimes you just have to take it on the chin and move on.