“We aren’t assessing the Nets we are watching the Lakers, the real Nets aren’t here”: ESPN analyst Michael Wilbon and NBA Twitter react to the purple and gold team’s poor performance on Christmas Day

Akash Murty | 26/12/2021
“We aren’t assessing the Nets we are watching the Lakers, the real Nets aren’t here”: ESPN analyst Michael Wilbon and NBA Twitter react to the purple and gold team's poor performance on Christmas Day

Los Angeles Lakers ruin Christmas day for their fans with a shameful performance against a Kevin Durant less Brooklyn Nets

The Christmas Eve game between the projected best teams of the East and the West Coast is scheduled at the start of the season like any other game. LA Lakers and Brooklyn Nets were to be the top seeds in their conferences according to the odds for the 2021-22 season.

One among the two turned out to be true, Brooklyn is the top team in the east, but nobody in their wildest of imagination would have thought that the Lakers after acquiring Russell Westbrook would be 16-18 in the season. They now sit at 8th in the West.

It’s odd for Brodie even after his significant dip as a big-name player to not perform at a certain level in the regular-season games. But that’s what he is struggling with lately. The Lakers again found themselves depending on LeBron James, who has been playing more minutes per game than his age.

Also read: “Lakers, no disrespect but y’all need help”” Michael Beasley calls out LeBron James and co for losing to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving-less Nets squad on NBA Christmas

Any basketball fan across the globe would have loved to watch a Lakers-Nets game on the 25th of December if you asked them at the start of the season. But of late that wouldn’t be the case. “Watching the Lakers” was trending on Twitter during the game for all the wrong reasons.

NBA Twitter thrashes Lakers for putting up a bizarre Lake-show against the Nets

Although Purple and Gold lost the game by just 7-points, they trailed the injury and Covid-19 protocols hit Brooklyn Nets by 23 points at one point in the third. Some might argue that the Lakers were also without Anthony Davis and a few other starters. But they had LeBron James and Russell Westbrook whereas the Nets were without KD. And so, NBA Twitter was on to the Lakers quickly.

This mind-boggling plus-minus stat shows how much negative impact the rest of the Lakers team is having even after LeBron James was +9 and played 40 minutes.

Also read: “I’m still willing and want to play basketball, my phone number hasn’t changed”: JR Smith declares his availability for a ten-day contract, in light of the franchises signing former NBA players

 

Post Edited By: Arjun Julka
Brooklyn Nets LA Lakers LeBron James michael wilbon NBA Twitter

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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