When you play against your absolute rival, a team that shares a stadium with you and a squad that has won 8 out of their last 9 games against you, you would expect your team to come out strong and play hard.
That wasn’t the case in the Los Angeles Lakers recent loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Clippers have now won 9 out of their last 10 against the Lakers.
The Clippers decimated the Lakers and the game was essentially over in the first half as the Clippers held a 70-48 lead at halftime.
Now, Lakers coach Byron Scott agrees with a statement made by his star player a while ago.
Following from Rashaun Haylock of FoxSports West:
“(It was) very disappointing, the way we played, the effort,” Scott said following his team’s fifth straight loss to the Clippers. “I thought we came out soft.”
Asked if the main concern in the loss was about effort and energy?
“We were soft,” Scott fired back. “A lot of respect for that team over there is a very good team. I don’t consider them a physical basketball team but they came out and punched us and we were soft. Period.”
Then, Lakers star Kobe Bryant, agreed with Scott’s statement.
“He said the same thing I said,” recited Kobe Bryant following the loss. “He just didn’t use the toilet paper analogy.”
Remember when Kobe said this team is ‘soft like charmin‘? Well, now the coach agrees too.
Lakers didn’t come out strong, they never played well in this game and they never led the game once, not even by a single point. They lost 114-89 but were at one point down by as many as 40 points.
Lakers need to toughen up. Or just join the Knicks in the tank movement.
