Lakers must fire Frank Vogel after Pacers loss or the season is over
By Ronald Agers
The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
The interior defense in the first half was atrocious.
As well as the Lakers played on the offensive end, they allowed the Indiana Pacers to stay close at halftime by allowing points in the paint. They allowed too many offensive rebounds (9) and the perimeter defense allowed dribble penetration for layups.
To put this in perspective, the Pacers only had four shots made outside the paint for the entire half! A lot of this happened with the small ball lineup when Dwight Howard was sitting. Speaking of this situation…
Dwight Howard might be caught in a “Civil War” between Frank Vogel and Kurt Rambis!
To be clear here, Kurt Rambis has had a few chances to coach on the bench over the years. To say he was horrible would be a polite way of describing his tenures, ESPECIALLY in New York.
Rambis has made it clear that he wants the Lakers to go back to traditional lineups with the centers getting minutes. Vogel wants the small ball lineup with LeBron James and eventually Anthony Davis.
No matter if the relationship between these two is deteriorating or not, the Los Angeles Lakers need Howard’s size and toughness. Opponents will be afraid of his rim protection and physical play. He played well in this game but as soon as he got warm, Vogel took him out. It is clear that Howard is getting frustrated with his inconsistent minutes every time he leaves the floor.
This is no longer about stats. The Lakers lost this game because Stanley Johnson, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James was the center.
Trevor Ariza…no check that Frank Vogel!
Nobody can blame Trevor Ariza for starting because it’s not his decision, but to bench Malik Monk for a player that scored the same amount of points that this writer scored writing this report and any reader taking time to read it is an embarrassment to the NBA coaching profession!