Lakers are in trouble
Last night, in Orlando, Florida, the Los Angeles Lakers played against the Indiana Pacers. The game was balanced, but in the end, the Pacers managed to win with a score of 116 to 111.
Since the NBA restarted, the Lakers played six games and lost four of them. Ok, they qualified into the playoffs, and they clinched the top spot in the Western Conference, but they lost at big margins. The Lakers won against the Clippers (103-101), then lost against the Raptors (107-92), and beat the Jazz (116-108) before losing three more games: vs. Thunder (105-86), vs. Rockets (113-97), and vs. Pacers (116-111).
Maybe the players relaxed after the win against the Jazz, but these games can still be important if they are used wisely. Frank Vogel and his staff decided to rest some players, but this seems to me like an unnecessary move. The NBA was suspended in March and since then there weren’t any games. Therefore, the players had a lot of time to rest and be ready for the restart of the season.
Instead of resting them, maybe Frank Vogel should play them together to create team chemistry. The Lakers lost some games against tough teams, but in the playoffs, they will have to do the same. They must win the last two games of the bubble to gain some momentum and energy. If not, they will be an easy matchup for the Rockets, the Nuggets, the Clippers or the Thunder.
*photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
