Part of problem
If there’s one thing to be said about Lakers fans, it’s that they’re notoriously loyal. They’re passionate about their predispositions, ready and willing to engage with followers of other teams for the slightest of reasons. And it doesn’t matter if their favorites stink up the joint. As far as they’re concerned, no other colors are as significant — even relevant — as purple and gold. Ask Mike D’Antoni, Byron Scott, and Luke Walton, who coached in La-La Land for the better part of the last decade, didn’t have much to show by way of results, and yet fully expected support from Staples Center regulars.
To be sure, the sight of the Crypto.com Arena playing host to boos the other day wasn’t in and of itself jarring. What proved unnerving, even to jaded observers, was that the 17,536 warm bodies reserved their negative reactions for the supposedly beloved Lakers. The third quarter was especially brutal; in the 12 minutes after the break, the hometown heroes turned into heels by allowing the Pelicans to net 44 points while scoring just 25. And the eye test was damning, with cringe-inducing turnovers, lost rotations, poorly executed sets, and close-to-nonexistent defense practically inviting the jeers.
For spectators loath to look at the scoreboard with a modicum of frequency, the Lakers’ body language was all they needed to know of how badly things went. In abundance were long faces, frowns, shaking heads, back and forths with paying patrons. Effort — the least they could have been treated to — proved wanting in every aspect. Showtime became more like slow time, leading to a ninth setback in the last 12 games.
At this point, there can be no doubting that the Lakers are in a rut. They need direction and leadership, and, in recent memory, supposed best of all time LeBron James hasn’t been providing it. He attracted the wrong kind of attention during All-Star Weekend with passive-aggressive statements, voiced out or otherwise, and he seemed inclined to keep at it by engaging with critics off the court instead of worrying about improving the product on the court.
Is the 2021-22 campaign lost? Perhaps. The Lakers are 10th in Western Conference standings and flirting with outright elimination from the postseason. And they’ve got a brutal stretch ahead of them; the Mavericks, Clippers, and Warriors are on tap, followed by a bevy of road outings in the league’s most difficult schedule the rest of the way. There was a time when having James on the roster gave a team — any team — a fighting chance. Not anymore, it appears, and not when he’s part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
