The Lakers have suffered this specific type of loss a half-dozen times at this point in the season.<\/p>\n
A team with athletic wings and some outside shooting torches them defensively and the team can\u2019t keep up on the other end, resulting in a blowout loss. The really frustrating part is that it just happened on Sunday, so the hope would be that the team would have a little bit of shame and ensure it didn\u2019t happen again within the same week.<\/p>\n
Alas, this is an unserious team.<\/p>\n
So, let\u2019s dive into the loss<\/a>. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A \u201cB\u201d grade represents the average performance for that player.<\/p>\n 33 minutes, 29 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 10-19 FG, 3-6 3PT, 6-7 FT, -7<\/p>\n Outside of his inability to dribble the ball at times on the night, resulting in his three turnovers, it was about all you could ask from a 41-year-old playing his third game in four nights.<\/p>\n 37 minutes, 18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 5-10 FG, 3-4 3PT, 5-5 FT, -6<\/p>\n I was really tempted to give everyone an F tonight because I hadn\u2019t gone to that bit in a while. However, there were just enough good performances<\/a> that it would have felt a bit too much and LaRavia was one of them.<\/p>\n 32 minutes, 12 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 6-10 FG, -4<\/p>\n Ayton, however, was not one of them. He\u2019s given a fool\u2019s errand of trying to cover for this team defensively so I won\u2019t fault him too much there. But six rebounds against this team is unacceptable.<\/p>\n 32 minutes, 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 fouls, 3-9 FG, 1-5 3PT, 3-4 FT, -1<\/p>\n Only once in the last five games has Smart shot above 33.3% from the field. It\u2019s not been in ideal circumstances, but he\u2019s not exactly made a great case to remain in the starting lineup when Austin Reaves returns.<\/p>\n 36 minutes, 39 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 15-26 FG, 6-11 3PT, 3-7 FT, -13<\/p>\n For the second time in a blowout loss this week, the question I left the game with was \u201cWhere would this team have been without Luka?\u201d<\/p>\n 15 minutes, 1 rebound, 4 fouls, 0-7 FG, 0-5 3PT, -15<\/p>\n Gabe had played well in recent games before this, so it was a bit harsh when his missed three led to boos from the fans in attendance. The team deserved them, though.<\/p>\n 18 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 1-4 FG, 1-4 3PT, -17<\/p>\n He\u2019ll get a pass since he just returned from injury, but this was a pretty bad game from him.<\/p>\n 15 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3-4 FG, 0-1 3PT, -12<\/p>\n The non-center minutes, which predominantly featured Vando playing as the nominal center, were really bad in this game.<\/p>\n 17 minutes, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 0-2 FG, 0-1 3PT, -7<\/p>\n Bufkin deserved the minutes he got in place of Dalton Knecht and Nick Smith Jr., but he wasn\u2019t good in them. He still deserves another run or two, though, because Knecht and NSJ aren\u2019t giving anything either.<\/p>\n Dalton Knecht, Bronny James, Nick Smith Jr., Drew Timme<\/p>\n The garbage time crew did nothing of note in this one.<\/p>\n He finally stopped playing Knecht and NSJ, so that\u2019s a bonus. His hands are kind of tied elsewhere with this flawed roster, though.<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s DNPs: Maxi Kleber<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s inactives: Jaxson Hayes, Austin Reaves, Adou Thiero, Chris Ma\u00f1on<\/p>\n You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude<\/a> or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n