Many NBA fans believe LeBron James and Russell Westbrook are too many cooks spoiling the Lakers’ offensive broth as facilitators.
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The Lakers are one of 5 teams that made the playoffs last season but are yet to record a W. They’ve gotten off to a pretty bad start to this season by any standards.
Both of their season-opening losses have come at home at the Staples Center, traditionally a stronghold. The first defeat against the Warriors came by a close margin of 5 points.
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However, their other loss last night to the Phoenix Suns was a totally different ball game, and everyone felt it. Where they looked like a cohesive defensive unit against GSW, they looked like a ragtag bunch against CP3 and co.
The final scoreline of 115-105 undersells how badly the Lakers were reeling at the time. They trailed the game by a whopping 31-point margin at the start of the 4th quarter. Monty Williams got his team to run the clock and played his bench unit to see the game out.
There were quite a few contentious incidents all game long, including a spectator getting ejected for irritating Rajon Rondo, and a kerfuffle between Dwight and AD as they sat on the sidelines.
Ultimately, the Lakers looked a far cry from the team that officially took its championship rings about 10 months ago.
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NBA Twitter clamors for Russell Westbrook to come off the bench after a sub-par start to the season
Russell Westbrook, much like the other Lakers, had a wretched night on both ends of the floor. It’s been a stretch of 8 games going back to preseason in which Westbrook hasn’t showed his form.
Most NBA fans know that he now starts seasons slow. Age has clearly begun to catch up on him and he no longer looks the best athlete on the court. But they also know that he isn’t becoming a good or even average shooter of the ball any time soon.
A few people are even suggesting that Russell Westbrook come off the bench for the Lakers. This would automatically make him the highest-paid 6th man of all time.