The epilogue of a fiasco. The Lakers fell overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in Phoenix (121-110) marking their elimination from the play-off race. The slow and inexorable decline of the 2020 champion, who nevertheless aimed for nothing other than the reconquest of the title at the start of the championship, with the recruitment of Russell Westbrook, to form a “Big 3” alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, resulted in this pitiful elimination.
For it to be recorded, they had to concede a seventh consecutive defeat at the Suns, combined with a victory for the Spurs at the Nuggets. This scenario came true, in the absence of LeBron James, package because insufficiently recovered from a sprained left ankle. Ranked eleventh in the Western Conference, the Lakers will no longer be able to make up for the three victories behind the Texans.
LA only deceived in the first period, despite the efforts of Davis (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Westbrook (28 pts), after which the championship leader accelerated in the wake of Devin Booker (32 points) and DeAndre Ayton (22 points, 13 rebounds), with a 63rd victory this season, a new franchise record.
Last Friday, James had made believe that his end of the season had come and given an appointment in the fall. His joke of April 1 will finally have had only four days in advance to become reality. He is not in the play-offs for the 4th time in his career in 19 seasons, punctuated by 10 finals and four coronations. After being eliminated in the first round of the play-offs last season, LA is experiencing a new industrial accident.
This new NBA day also saw the qualification of Rudy Gobert’s Jazz. The Frenchman (22 points, 21 rebounds) was sparkling in overtime, and scored five of his team’s eleven points in the racket.