The Lakers can't take a punch
Boston hit L.A. hard on Monday night and the Lakers never got back up. Does this reveal something about the West's best team?
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Let’s basketball.
Fight With Cudgels, Francisco Goya
The Lakers have the second best record in basketball, two All-NBA stars, seemingly perfect harmony in the locker room and a bead on the No. 1 seed in the West. And also, perhaps, the Lakers don’t look like they can take a punch.
The Celtics metaphorically punched the Lakers in the mouth on Monday night in a big MLK Day showdown on national T.V., and L.A. just kind of folded. Boston won 139-107, by far the worst loss for the Lakers this season. The Lakers had all of their players back (including Anthony Davis), got off to a good start in the first quarter and … just wilted. Once the Celtics took control with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown asserting themselves, L.A. didn’t really fight back.
The Jaylen Brown dunk on LeBron is a pretty representative moment.
That clip doesn’t show it, but Jaylen then stared down Bron and picked up a tech. It was worth it. In one fell swoop, Brown resuscitated the notion that the Celtics really aren’t afraid of anyone, not the least LeBron and the Lakers, and he showed that L.A. is surmountable.
Of course, the Clippers already know this, having metaphorically punched the Lakers in the mouth twice this season. The Nuggets and Bucks have big wins over them, too. It’s both completely true that the Lakers have been the most consistent and best team in their conference all season long and that most of the teams in the Lakers’ tier do not appear to be afraid of them. L.A. has two wins over each of Utah and Miami and has destroyed the Rockets at every opportunity. But these other contenders are standing tall against L.A., and when they rock the Lakers back, it’s pretty much game over.
Both things can be true: the Lakers have been wildly good and there are concerns about their performance against top opponents who get an edge. We know how good LeBron is in big games and in the playoffs, so maybe by the time we get to April this will all be forgotten. But it’s worth watching as the Lakers roll along to a No. 1 seed.
(It should also be noted that even a flawed Lakers contender is far superior to what Lakers fans have been subjected to since 2011. It shouldn’t be possible to go from the cellar to Perfect Team in two years.)
More Celtics-Lakers:
Yaron Weitzman on Jaylen Brown, with some revealing stuff about the nightmare 2018-19 Celtics season.
LeBron got to watch Bronny play in the Hoophall Classic down the road from Boston before the game on Monday.
Kemba Walker is now 28-1 against LeBron’s teams all-time. Incredible.
Helping Delonte West (and Others Who Need a Hand)
Delonte West is in trouble: videos of him getting attacked on a street in D.C. surfaced, as did a brief video clip of him talking about what happened. Delonte, who faced mental health struggles while in the NBA, appears to seriously need help. It would be irresponsible to speculate on exactly what help Delonte needs. But it’s clear he needs something.
The question is how to provide it. This is something cities, counties and states all across the nation are trying to figure out for the hundreds of thousands of people in various states of distress such as it appears West is in. Jameer Nelson, West’s old St. Joe’s running mate, says he has been in contact with West in recent months and seems to indicate that Delonte needs to make a choice to accept help. That is often one of the biggest challenges in helping those in situations like this: bringing resources to the table is sometimes easier than getting some of the most difficult cases to accept help, or to stick with a program aimed toward health and happiness. Whether it’s addiction or illness or both — I must emphasize that we don’t know — it’s not as easy as raising some money. It’s much more difficult. It takes trained professionals and smart policies. It takes strategies and time.
That doesn’t mean you don’t try. I have no doubt that Delonte’s friends and supporters will bring resources to bear, and I hope an intervention works and he finds health and peace. In the meantime, I guarantee your town or region has organizations that you can support directly to help people like Delonte in distress in your area. Look around and do good.
Scores
What a good day of basketball!
Raptors 122, Hawks 117 — This Trae Young miss is either the most or least important moment of the game, I have trouble deciding.
Magic 106, Hornets 83 — Don’t look now but Orlando is just two games under .500.
Kings 113, Heat 118 (OT) — Sacramento *almost* gave Miami its second home loss of the season, but this tying inbounds alley-oop from Goran Dragic to Bam Adebayo sent it to OT …
… and James Johnson got a clinching block on a very broken play to end OT.
I love that the Heat Twitter account reflects on that bizarre sequence with the platitude “defense wins games,” completely ignoring the hideous Duncan Robinson turnover to set it up. Maybe he actually MEANT to turn it over for Miami’s defense could win the game! Because defense wins games.
Thunder 112, Rockets 107 — I trust the numbers and Daryl Morey, I do. But James Harden shot 1-17 from three, and Houston lost by just five points. Maybe, when the shot isn’t falling, I don’t know … don’t shoot 17 three-pointers?
Pelicans 126, Grizzlies 116 — Happy Zion Eve. Brandon Ingram is a treasure, Ja Morant is a treasure, I want these teams to have a decade of playoff battles.
Bulls 98, Bucks 111 — Giannis Antetokounmpo load management watch: Giannis only had to play 31 minutes because the Bucks are so good.
Nuggets 107, Wolves 100 — Michael Porter Jr. is ready for it all. He dramatically changes Denver’s outlook for this season and beyond.
Pacers 88, Jazz 118 — Sheesh, Utah.
Warriors 124, Blazers 129 (OT) — Golden State still has the worst record in the NBA, but they’ve been competitive lately. They made Portland work for this one. The Blazers needed a CAREER HIGH 61 points from Damian Lillard, including a tying stepback three with 15 seconds in regulation.
Pretty good player.
Schedule
Just one lonely game.
Clippers at Mavericks, 8:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV
Links
Terribly sad news from Atlanta, where Chandler Parsons was seriously injured by a drunk driver last week. A statement from Parsons’ law firm said the player, who has been limited by knee injuries in recent years, suffered a traumatic brain injury, disc herniation and a torn labrum. Best wishes to a full recovery for Parsons.
Chris Haynes reports that teams including the Lakers and Clippers are trying to pull Derrick Rose from the Pistons.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is everything we were promised he’d be.
John Hollinger at The Athletic on what the Royce O’Neale extension tells us about this summer’s free agency market. I wrote about the contract for SB Nation.
Can I go on Lloyd Pierce’s field trip in Atlanta?
Nice Converse shoes nodding to the pioneering black players in the NBA: Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Nat Clifton.
Michael Pina on what the Nets can learn while they wait for Kevin Durant.
Thank you for your support. Be excellent to each other.