1.) It's so great to root against the Lakers
2.) I loved at halftime when they showed Lopez & Nurkic's stats where they had a combined 37 points but only 3 rebounds
3.) Lakers do not look particularly impressive
Right now the Lakers are playing hard but they were playing hard at the beginning of last year too. They were 10-10 twenty games in. The Lakers right now are 3-5.
But last year the entire organization was hell-bent on tanking enough to draft Lonzo Ball. This year they will lose their pick so they have no motivation to tank.
I guess they benched Mozgof and Deng like half way through the year, but a lot of these young teams start off less than terrible and then once the playoff push starts they sink like stones.
And it’s not like benching Deng and Mozgov was a huge detriment. Deng has played only 13 minutes this season, and Mozgov has been less than good for Brooklyn so far. Ultimately the Lakers will want to play their kids to get them experience. They’d prefer the kids win, but they’re not going to sit them except for occasional benchings to teach them a lesson.
Maybe Deng will get some playing time with Nance out. Regardless, the Lakers aren’t tanking, but they’re not winning either. We saw the same thing with Brooklyn last year — the goal is to let the kids play, period.