The Los Angeles Lakers keep struggling in the 2021/22 NBA season, unable to find their rhythm in a competitive Western Conference. After going through a good streak in the past weeks, the Purple and Gold are once again having issues to win games, suffering embarrassing losses in the process.
Saturday night presented a good opportunity for them to snap their 2-game skid, but Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets had different plans, dismantling the 17-time NBA champions at Ball Arena, getting a 133-99 win over a team looking worse by the day.
After the game was over, fans attacked the team for such a poor performance. Even Magic Johnson criticized them for their bad game, claiming the fanbase and executives deserve better from a group of veterans who have mightily underperformed.
Russell Westbrook also had a couple of things to say about the game, calling out his teammates for the lack of effort. Even though he said Magic was entitled to his opinion about the team, Westbrook also expressed his, pointing out the things they needed to do and didn’t.
“We have to be able to do it if we want to win games,” Westbrook told reporters after the game. “We have to be scrappy and play harder. We have to be tough and we haven’t shown that.”
This is somehow ironic knowing that Westbrook was the one getting the criticism before this game. Fans want him out of the Lakers, and every day, somebody urges the team to get rid of the point guard. Well, now Russ is the one taking the shots at his teammates, as he feels they must play harder if they want to win games.
Russ finished the game with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. He was the team’s second-best scorer of the night, which perfectly explains why the Lakers were unable to beat the Nuggets. After their 3rd consecutive defeat, the Lakers once again are under .500 and nobody is happy with this situation.
Some say they are a sleeping giant, but these Lakers look nothing like a serious contender.
