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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast-1-30pm
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“REAL LAKERS SHOW UP”
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What we saw Wednesday night was what we expected from the LA Lakers.
A shadow of a once famous organization, scuffling along year to year, to be a playoff team, or a play-in team, or survive the first round of the playoffs.
The Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game was a tug of war, a foul fest, that featured a ton of free throws, missed 3-point shots, hard fouls and banged up bodies.
In the end, Minnesota survived to win, despite horrible shot selections, tons of fould problems, only because the Lakers just seem inferior in so many areas.
Luka Doncic somehow came back after back spasms just before halftime and gritted his way thru the possessions.
LeBron James banged a knee and seemed out of sync late in the game.
The Lakers were destroyed in the paint and around the basket by Rudy Gobert.
It was a miserable night for Anthony Edwards. A worse 3-point shooting night for Minnesota, and yet they had a 14-point lead, gave it up, and then got it back late.
Lakers coach JJ Redick played just 5-players in the 4th game’s fourth quarter. In this game he benched center Jaxson Hayes for the entire game, playing Maxie Kleber, who had been out 42-games with injuries. There was no Dalton Knect sighting either.
It was a messy, ugly game, but the Lakers played with such enormous heart, it’s hard to root against them.
It is easy to root against Minnesota, which empties a satchel of fouls on the floor all night long. And as great a talent as Edwards is, it’s really hard to root for such a ‘potty mouth’ of a person with a history of NBA fines.
So the two teams staggered to the final minutes, with fatigue, and fouled out players everywhere.
Minnesota was (6-30) on 3’s in the first half, and went (0-18) on points from the arc thru much of the second half.
Gobert made up for all the mess, with his (27P-24R) night, a career night who has plenty of nights he looks like a big stiff in the pros.
For the Lakers, a bench they could not trust, two superstars who got banged up, and Austin Reaves who was (1-9) shooting till late in the second half.
Rui Hachimura saved them and put them in a spot to rally the team, finishing with (23) in a losing effort but there was not alot of support.
At the end of the night, Minnesota had 56-rebounds, and 54-points in the paint. And at the end of the night, the Lakers lost because they had no one to play in the paint, virtually no defense anywhere.
Typical of Lakers basketball these years. Gruesome stats, the Lakers now (1-18) in games when they are down (3-1) in playoff series.
Wait till next year. Yes, that is what Lakers basketball has become, because most of these years, they no longer resemble what they used to be, a dominant team most years in the NBA.
What I expected to happen, did happen. Lakers lose. We await the excuses. And know no one ever is held accountable for another lost season. It’s Lakers basketball as we have come to know, and what alot of fans now seem to accept.
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