The ‘Purple & Gold’ boat is beginning to rock in earnest as the numbers and warnings pile up. It is not yet known if the Lakers hit rock bottom last night, losing 37 points on the floor of Denver. Still, the formation of LeBron James, whose team has a negative record, a first in his career at this stage of the regular season since his rookie year, has fallen very low.
A new milestone was crossed in the process since Magic Johnson, in person, took his smartphone to split a tweet expressing his incomprehension in the face of this strange season of his heart team.
” Everyone has his opinion “
“As Lakers fans, we can accept being outclassed, but we deserve better than a lack of effort and a lack of sense of urgency. Owner Jeanie Buss, you deserve better,” he tweeted.
After being blown out by the Nuggets 133-96, we as @Lakers fans can accept being outplayed but we deserve more than a lack of effort and no sense of urgency. Owner @JeanieBuss, you deserve better.
—Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 16, 2022
Invited to react when LeBron James did not appear before the press, Russell Westbrook and Dwight Howard had to face a new difficult exercise trying not to make additional waves in the face of this new start of controversy.
“I have no reaction”, launched Russell Westbrook. “Everyone has the right, in this world, to give their opinion. It doesn’t matter what she is. You can take it and use it, pass it through one ear and out the other, or not respond to it. Magic has the right to speak its mind. And he is not there, around us, every day. He is not aware of what is going on internally and he does not try to understand. But I have no answer to give. As I said, everyone in this world is entitled to their opinion and that’s it”.
The Howard Method: Staying Positive
The term “overclassed” used by Magic Johnson, however, sums up well how the Lakers were dominated this night. And that, Russell Westbrook could not elude it.
“We just have to play hard. Sometimes the systems and how you play don’t really matter. You just have to play hard. The teams play harder than us, it’s as simple as that.”, he added.
Dwight Howard meanwhile conceded that even away from the band, Magic Johnson’s tweet had some truth to it.
“There’s not much I can really say about it. We’ve said it all year, so I shouldn’t have to repeat it. But, you know, he’s right.”, recognized the pivot before recalling the ingredients necessary for a way out of the crisis. “You can’t stop believing that you’re going to win and say, ‘Ah, and then shit, we give up.’ We know we put ourselves in a difficult situation, but it only takes a few games, good energy and a little push. We just have to stay as positive as possible.”
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| lebron james | 30 | 36.9 | 52.4 | 36.6 | 76.9 | 1.1 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 6.6 | 3.2 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 29.1 |
| Anthony Davis | 27 | 35.4 | 52.1 | 17.9 | 72.7 | 2.7 | 7.1 | 9.9 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 23.3 |
| Russell Westbrook | 42 | 35.5 | 43.7 | 28.8 | 65.6 | 1.4 | 6.8 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 4.4 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 18.7 |
| carmelo anthony | 41 | 27.0 | 42.7 | 38.9 | 80.2 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 13.2 |
| Malik Monk | 37 | 26.1 | 47.4 | 40.8 | 85.1 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 12.3 |
| Talen Horton-tucker | 26 | 27.6 | 40.9 | 24.7 | 82.1 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 10.9 |
| isaiah thomas | 4 | 25.2 | 30.8 | 22.7 | 72.7 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.0 | 9.2 |
| Sekou Doumbouya | 2 | 8.2 | 62.5 | 50.0 | 75.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 7.0 |
| Avery Bradley | 34 | 23.8 | 42.2 | 38.3 | 100.0 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 6.9 |
| Wayne Ellington | 29 | 20.3 | 40.3 | 38.6 | 80.0 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 6.5 |
| Austin Reaves | 23 | 20.6 | 53.1 | 38.6 | 88.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 6.4 |
| Stanley Johnson | 8 | 21.3 | 45.7 | 28.6 | 90.0 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 3.6 | 5.9 |
| Dwight Howard | 32 | 14.7 | 61.9 | 75.0 | 60.9 | 1.8 | 3.7 | 5.5 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 5.2 |
| Deandre Jordan | 28 | 13.0 | 67.5 | 0.0 | 58.8 | 1.6 | 4.0 | 5.6 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 4.4 |
| Kent Bazemore | 24 | 17.0 | 32.7 | 33.3 | 76.9 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 3.9 |
| Trevor Ariza | 8 | 17.7 | 50.0 | 46.7 | 50.0 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 3.2 |
| Rajon Rondo | 18 | 16.1 | 32.4 | 26.7 | 50.0 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 3.1 |
| mason jones | 2 | 4.4 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.5 |
| jemerrio jones | 2 | 7.4 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Darren Collison | 3 | 12.4 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 1.3 |
| Chaundee Brown | 2 | 10.3 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Jay Huff | 4 | 5.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
