I guess it was more of a ‘clunk’ than a ‘clang’, honestly. Not much, if anything at all. good to take away from this one. Effort? Nonexistent. Execution? Abysmal. What’s even more alarming was that this loss continues a to this point season-long trend of not meeting the moment against playoff caliber teams. Sub .500/fringe contenders? We’re killing it. Elite teams? Ehhhh…notsomuch.
- AD was shown the business by Embiid in every way possible. OK, they both had 11 rebounds and a block and steal. That’s not the issue, though, the issue is that when his team needed a bucket Joel got one and he got one from wherever he was. Three pointers, offensive rebound tip ins, pick and pops, you name it and Embiid canned it. We got two quick fouls attacking him in the fist quarter and then basically turned into midrange jump shooting team. AD passed up several open three pointers for meandering dribbles and lazy possessions. Every Lakers fan would love to see Davis in the MVP convo and last night was a stark reminder of why that’s unlikely to ever happen.
- Lakers had no answer for Maxey. The game’s leading scorer was unbothered by any defense the Lakers threw at him. He carved us up off the dribble, he carved us off of screen and rolls, honestly I didn’t see this much carving since Thanksgiving a couple days earlier. He left the Laker defense in tiny chunks of meat scattered over the court. Feel free to blame injuries but at some point it’s really just a matter of effort and pride, two things we didn’t bring to the game at any point. That’s on the player’s for playing like utter shit and the staff for not looking like they had ever seen the guy play before.
- 76ers letting it rain. Not only could we not stop Maxey or Embiid but we basically stopped closing out on three point shooters after the jump. All but 3 players on the 76ers made a three pointer and they played the entire team last night. Of the meaningful players only Tobias Harris went 0fer from distance. Again, a matter of the heart you have for the game. Or in this case a lack thereof.
- LeBron james has played the most combined NBA minutes of anyone on planet Earth. Whee. I think he feels about the same why I do, too.
- Redemption? After the off day today we have a roadie back-to-back against Detroit and OKC. I’m sure a lot of fans have that Piston’s game circled as an automatic win but if what we saw last night is representative of what the Lakers are capable of that could end up being one of the most unexpected losses of the season. Here are some tips for the team: stop whining to the refs on every shot. Did you get hit? Probably but it’s not gonna change the tenor of the game they’re calling. Should the 76ers have been called for at least one defensive three seconds call? Sure, but we lost by the amount of money my wife saves at the store when she uses coupons so we’re talking about a drop in the bucket. The only way to be better is to compete harder, not look at a the refs to bail you out of your terrible choice. Be better.
I think we get Cam back which should help a little but to expect ond or two guys to be the balm of what looks to me mostly like an effort issue isn’t the answer. The team has to choose to compete nightly the same way they did for the in-season tourney games. That’s it, not brain surgery. Go get it.
Nice post Jamie. Yes it was ugly and we did seem to give up somewhere in the 3rd after closing within 11. Still that 40 to 14 4th quarter was the result of a couple of bench players and our g leaguers. The problem is we will beat not the best teams missing this many guys. We could have made it closer but we could not win. Our 3 best perimeter defenders are on the self and that’s where they beat us. Pat, Morris and Melton was a combined 11 for 16 from 3. I don’t think that would happen if we were healthy. And then throw in Rui who isn’t an elite defender but he is head and shoulders above Wood who is demonstrating why he is considered a bad defender, only he is not providing offense to make up for it. Hopefully we go all in on beating Detroit. If we lose to OKC, a 2-2 road trip under the circumstances isn’t awful. It looks like we may have every one but Vincent back within a week. And we need everyone if we are to beat the best teams.
Thanks Michael, I get it. Guys are hurt. That doesn’t explain the half-hearted close outs, not getting back, not boxing out and generally poor showing in all the effort categories we’ve seen from the team all season long. Especially against teams to whom we were compared to before the season began.
Sure, our G-leaguers got blown out but they’re supposed to be auditioning for something more than garbage tme status and they utterly blew that, too. So, while I can sympathize with the plight I don’t in any way think this level of blow out is something that is coupled with competitive NBA level effort. Everyone has got to show up better.
Yep. I still think we have a tendency to waaaay overrate our benchers, even DLO.