The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the New Orleans Pelicans by a final score of 104-87 on Sunday night, but they might have lost something far more valuable than a game in the process.
They may have lost the fans.It was just one contest in what's shaping up to be a very, very long season, but when the boos cascaded down from the Staples Center rafters at the end of the third quarter (with the Lakers trailing by 20) and then again after the contest mercifully ended, the message was clear.
Angelenos were fed up, and they showed it in disgusted unity, with full-throated frustration and disdain, as pointed out by ESPN NBA's Baxter Holmes:Maybe it was Anthony Davis making everything look easy, scoring 23 points and grabbing six boards with casual flair.
Maybe it was hometown kid Jrue Holiday getting loose for 22 points, eight assists and four rebounds against a Lakers defense that couldn't keep him from getting anywhere he wanted.
Maybe it was the fact that Scott's lineup switcheroo, in which Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer were demoted from the first unit in favor of Ronnie Price and Ed Davis, didn't make an impact. After all, everybody—Lakers fans and right-thinking hoops followers everywhere—had been clamoring for Davis to get time ahead of C-Booze.
Watching Davis finally get his shot and still be such an afterthought as to only see six field-goal attempts had to sting. Bryant, through it all, continued to dominate possessions, while everyone else stood around and let him.
Kobe toiled with the same defiant passion as always, fighting for inches and needing 18 shots to tally 14 points. The Pelicans knew what was coming and were fully prepared to stop it, a sentiment echoed in Jrue Holiday's comments, via Silver Screen & Roll:
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2292452-los-angeles-lakers-look-even-worse-than-expected-and-sunday-nba-takeaways
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