You could read into the Los Angeles Lakers getting upset at home by the Brooklyn Nets 104-102, that an elite team that just bested two of its biggest rivals — the Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks — should not lose to a below-.500 team that just parted ways with its head coach.
There’s the fact that the bench — missing Dwight Howard — only scored 27 to the Nets’ 34. New signing Dion Waiters has been inactive since signing despite the fact that he was signed to give the Lake Show some much-needed help in the reserves.
But don’t read too deeply into it.
The Lakers just came off a weekend when LeBron James and Anthony Davis spent everything to make a statement. Beating a possible Western Conference playoff opponent in the Clippers — a deeper team than the Lakers rounding into form who might be the better team — and a possible finals opponent in the Bucks sparked LeBron MVP talk and put them on top of the league.
So you’ll pardon them if they have a let-down night.
But there’s also the way the game ended: James missed a late game-tying layup by inches:
Then, Davis had a wide-open look from beyond the arc after James drew practically the entire Nets defense while driving. That, too, didn’t miss by much:
Those are two shots neither of them are going to miss often, especially in a game after the weekend to remember. They’re 5.5 games up on the Clippers and 6.5 up on the Nuggets, not to mention three back of the Bucks for the league’s best record with Milwaukee losing three of its last four. Barring a complete collapse, they’ll walk into the playoffs as the top seed in the West and could make a run at the NBA’s best record.
I’d expect this loss to wake them up a bit. Their next four games are: vs. the Rockets, vs. the Nuggets, and a home-and-home with the Jazz. It’s one more big stretch to keep proving they’re the team to beat and not the squad that squandered a game to the Nets by inches.
