Things have gotten so bad for the Los Angeles Lakers that now some people are saying they’re not even respecting the game of basketball.
It has to be pretty horrid if commentators are openly questioning a team’s devotion to the sport they play.
The comments in question come from NBA great Richard Jefferson, who was very unimpressed and upset by the Lakers’ performance on Sunday night, when they were shockingly toppled by The New Orleans Pelicans.
Richard Jefferson says the Lakers need to find the energy to just be respectful to the game of basketball….and he's not wrong.
— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) February 28, 2022
Jefferson’s comments made the rounds on Twitter.
Trevor Lane highlighted his words, noting that Jefferson said, “the Lakers need to find the energy to just be respectful to the game of basketball…and he’s not wrong.”
Jefferson isn’t wrong: based upon their performance Sunday night, it looks like they aren’t even trying.
Losing Lakers
The Lakers were never supposed to lose against the Pelicans.
New Orleans is ranked lower than the Lakers in the Western Conference and, while they have gotten better, this was not the sort of team that should have taken down LeBron James and the rest of his squad.
More specifically, they shouldn’t have taken down LA in the ways they did.
The Lakers gave up the ball way more than New Orleans did.
They also had shoddy defense and sloppy offense too.
All in all, they did not look like a team that was fighting to stay in the playoff picture.
They didn’t even look like a team that had won a championship only a few seasons ago.
Respect for the game would have been playing with more determination and more drive and more dedication.
But none of that was to be found in Sunday’s defeat at the hands of a lesser team.
Now the only question is what will the Lakers do about it.
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