When it’s not, it’s not. Y it is also impossible. There is no way. There are no joys that last in the house of the poor. When it rains, it pours. You can pull from clichés and proverbs all you want to verify a reality: this is not the year of the Los Angeles Lakers. Beyond the fact that the team is poorly made, that the bet was risky and that now there is no plan B or many ways to amend the A a bit between now and the close of the market (February 10), Angelenos have been looked at by a one-eyed man. Or an army of them. Both things are compatible: it is not a well-thought-out team and it does not have an ounce of luck either. In Charlotte (117-114) it became clear again.
Most of the nights that could give small joys, at least, end in almost. In bitter taste. Winning shots don’t go in, comebacks aren’t consummated. The little stories (at least those) that could be sweet bites end up choking on the palate. One day after another after another after another. Until the current 24-26, in the purgatory of play in. Without much real possibility of escape, at least right now, and with the feeling that it is that… and Thank you. But there is no way to see this team (regular, bad or very bad: whatever you want) in its entirety. After the joy of the return of Anthony Davis and the victory in Brooklyn, LeBron James fell (who has missed two games due to knee problems) and before playing in Carolina Malik Monk fell (he ran out of revenge game) and Anthony Davis, who has wrist problems after only two games and who, furthermore, could not force anything else to come back in a back to back. The Lakers are on a tough tour of the East: tomorrow in Atlanta they have their sixth away game in nine days. Everything seems to collude to shovel sand into a grave that, yes, the Lakers themselves insisted on digging since the summer. That said: both things are compatible.
So without LeBron or Davis or Monk (or Nunn, who hasn’t even made his debut), the Lakers lost in Charlotte 18-5 right from the start, 65-49 at halftime and 71-51 at the start of the third quarter. But they reacted they put a lot of heart and really deserved trace back They tied in nine furious minutes (84-84, partial 13-33) and they were 105-101 in the fourth quarter when they linked some key mistakes that were joined by an arbitration error that gave the Hornets a vital 2+1. With 111-102 and 150 seconds to play, they got back up. And at 115-114, LaMelo Ball missed one of his two free throws (116-114) and Russell Westbrook had the triple to give his team the victory. To come out smiling in the photo, to give yourself at least a little treat in a horrible year. They had deserved it, this time, he and some Lakers in the box. But not. It is not the year. Neither of the great wars nor of the small battles.
Miles Bridges, who stayed in the assignment trade after the lockout with Westbrook, said he knew the point guard would shoot 3-pointers to try to win, that he wouldn’t force a 2-pointer to go into overtime. It’s what Westbrook did and, for once, it made sense.. His team was low and in back to back, so better to play it to a shot than to go to an agonizing extension. Win or die. Also, Westbrook had just hit two 3-pointers in a row (one nearly identical to the final miss) and was at that point at 3/6. He had linked 10 points in a row to turn 111-102 into 115-112. this time i had all right to throw that triple. It was the play, and it wasn’t a lousy shot or it didn’t go wrong out of his hands. But it is not the year. Westbrook, without LeBron or Davis, put on a ton of pride after the break and after several dismissive gestures from the Hornets players. He finished with 35 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and only one loss. But, above all, he added 30 points in the second half, 16 in the last quarter. 30 points in half a game for the first time in almost five years. 30 in half a match for a lake for the first time since Kobe Bryant’s 38 on his last basketball night (for those 60 goodbyes against the Utah Jazz in April 2016). Everything was ready for a night, finally, of happy narrative… but the final shot did not come in. This year, never enter.
Westbrook was joined by Carmelo Anthony (19+5+5) and the excellent rookie Austin Reaves (16+8+3). It was almost enough… but-not-enough. The Hornets (28-22) almost scared Michael Jordan to death, who was gesticulating hysterically in his box, but they saved the night, for their part without Gordon Hayward or Kelly Oubre. With 26+8+6 from Bridges, 20 points from Rozier and 20 with 18 shots and only two assists from LaMelo, who has had much better games. In a good way, the Hornets are seventh in the East. In constant torture, the Lakers are ninth in the West. With lots of news always around you. But, Oh, bad, almost all bad.
#Westbrook #fairy #tale
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