The Los Angeles Lakers were up against a well-tuned basketball team in the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night, who were riding an NBA best 16 game winning streak. At the complete opposite end of the spectrum are the Lakers, who came into the game losers of 5 straight. The mismatch resulted in a 108-72 thumping, the largest margin of defeat at home in the long and storied history of the Lakers franchise. The Lakers hadn't lost a home game by more than 30 points since 1969. Even more embarrassing, the beloved fans at Staples Center booed the Lakers off the court in the final minutes of the game. Ouch! The The Mavericks, who are the odds-on favorite to win the championship this year, extended their winning streak to 17 (the seventh best in NBA history), while the Lakers continued their nosedive.
Kobe Bryant has remained the only constant for the Lakers. He led all scorers with 25 points, while pulling down 9 rebounds. In an attempt to explain the Lakers' ugly defeat he said, "Our team is not about having the best talent in the world. Our team is built on chemistry and guys knowing how to play together. So when you take three starters out of the lineup (referring to Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, and Vladimir Radmanovich) and insert guys who are new to these concepts, it makes it difficult."
Lakers head coach Phil Jackson said, "There's no reason for a blowout situation. We were embarrassed."
Let's try to end with something positive shall we? The Lakers can put this behind them knowing that Luke Walton and Lamar Odom are expected to play against the Nuggets, in Denver, this Thursday. Luke Walton has been out of the lineup since Jan. 28th after a right ankle sprain, and Odom has been out since March 2nd with a labrum in his left shoulder. Optimistically speaking, Odom and Walton will be well rested and the chemistry will return to the Lakers just in time for the playoffs.
4 comments:
This was a very well written post. I don't know anything about basketball. This post was interesting and very easy to read. You included a lot of perspective on the game. I found the Lakers schedule. You might want to include this in your post at some point. Or you can check out when the next game is.
I don't watch basketball, I used too as a kid when the Salt Lake Jazz were in the running for a couple of years.
But you hit my hot button. If I were to watch sports now it would be because of the owner of the dallas Mavricks. Mark Cuban is a really intresting person. Especially because of this class. Mark Cuban made his money by selling a company to yahoo. He then bought the dallas mavricks.
He writes alot about the details of what happens behind a NBA team. I think that if I were to watch sports it would be basketball.jldp
I have to agree with Rhianna, it's pretty well written. Unlike other sport blogs, I didn't get confused reading it. I don't know anything about basketball either, but I enjoyed your post.
Here's a link you may find interesting
It's good to hear that the Lakers lost by a lot because this is a rarity. Your style of writing is very clear which makes it very easy to read. I don't follow NBA that closely I like the NCAA much more. The Lakers are obviously your team and you know pretty much everything there is to know about them. It would have been cool to get a youtube clip of the fans booing them off the court, I'm sure they have it somewhere. I hate the Lakers, I'm guessing since your a Lakers fan you hate the Kings, but oh well they're my team.
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