mobile app bar

“Frank Vogel, your line-ups are horrible, like getting dressed in the dark!”: No Chill Gill roasts Lakers’ head coach’s struggles vs shorthanded Heat in 2020 Finals

Akash Murty
Published

“Frank Vogel, your line-ups are horrible, like getting dressed in the dark!”: No Chill Gill roasts Lakers' head coach's struggles vs shorthanded Heat in 2020 Finals

The Lakers went under the .500 mark again and Gilbert Arenas is not in surprise as he didn’t have many expectations from Frank Vogel even after the 2020 Championship.

The Los Angeles Lakers suffer yet another embarrassing loss, this time at the hands of Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat. The Lakers came out extremely flat on defense, looking lackluster since the starting whistle.

They let the Heat team, which was short of playmakers with both Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro not in the game. But still with Jimmy Butler’s dominance, much like the 2020 Playoffs, Miami went full-throttle on the LA team from the very beginning.

The infamous third-quarter woes came early for the Purple and Gold team, as the Heat scored 39 points in the 1st quarter of the game. Not putting up much fight in the next two quarters either, Frank Vogel’s squad gave up 5 more points, and let Erik Spoelstra’s team take a 19-point lead to start the fourth.

Also read: “If I knew LeBron James could play the center, I would’ve done it 10 years ago”: Erik Spoelstra on how the Lakers superstar could’ve been playing small-ball 5 for him on the Miami Heat

The Lakers did come back with force in the fourth, but it was rather too late as their 19 point differential would just cut down to 6, giving Miami Heat a 113-107 victory.

This match had glimpses of the Finals two years back, where LeBron and AD-led Lakers struggled to sweep a shorthanded Heat team. Since that series, Gilbert Arenas had doubts about Frank Vogel’s coaching.

Gilbert Arenas breaks down Frank Vogel’s struggle

Pardon me. “Doubt” would bring down the significance of the breakdown from No Chill Gill for the Lakers management. On his podcast on fubo Sports Network, former Washington Wizards point guard discussed how he had a ‘C minus’ for coach Vogel for his lineups.

When asked, about the Lakers coach’s assessment with Anthony Davis missing games, Agent 0 said, “Well when they were at full strength at the beginning of the season what was he doing?

He then talks about the Lakers dropping 2-games against the Heat in the 2020 Finals series, that they should have swept, and by huge point differentials like “20 or 10 at worst.” That precisely gave off Vogel’s shortcomings as a coach as per the 3-time All-Star.

He goes on to express his displeasure regarding Vogel’s straight line-ups and management which led to the Lakers’ struggle in that series.

“Your line-ups are horrible, you do not know what matches. It is like getting dressed in the dark.”

Arenas has a perfect analogy that a top-20 player in the league in Jimmy Butler and a top-50 player in Bam Adebayo (struggling with an injury) shouldn’t have had a chance against two top-10 or arguably top-5 players in the league.

Also read: “The previous year we had someone so good in transition you had to get the ball to him”: Joel Embiid explains how he’s had more freedom with the ball without Ben Simmons on the squad

It clears the Lakers’ struggle since that Championship run, which was never a personnel issue with the squad, but the management.

Their failure to be a winning team since their overhaul after last season’s early exit from the Playoffs proves Agent Zero’s point even further.

About the author

Akash Murty

Akash Murty

x-iconfacebook-iconinstagram-iconlinkedin-icon

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.

Share this article