The 2021-2022 season has been an absolute nightmare for the Los Angeles Lakers, and the bad dreams continued after they inexplicably fell apart in overtime to the Houston Rockets.
The Rockets currently own the worst record in the Western Conference but did not look like a struggling team as they hung with the Lakers all night before blowing the game open in the extra period. Los Angeles had zero answers for their outside shooting, while on the other end, they experienced several scoring droughts that ended up being costly.
The Lakers have looked rudderless since the All-Star break, and even though they have 18 games remaining, it already looks and feels like their season is over. Fans and analysts have had nothing good to say about their performances, and people like James Worthy were not pleased after this collapse via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I didn’t think that we could hit a new low, but we hit a new low tonight,” Worthy said.
Worthy went so far to say that he thinks the Lakers themselves know they are done for:
“Now I think they realize they can’t win. They don’t feel like they can. This is what I’m seeing…they can’t beat the Suns or the best teams, so I don’t know man. They’re not dead on arrival, but they just don’t have that tenacity, they don’t have that will to work their way out of this. Even to get into the Play-In Game, you would think they might be able to with a healthy team. It doesn’t seem like they believe in anything that they’re doing.”
On the floor, people watching will notice how often the Lakers hang their heads after giving up a run to their opponent, and the lack of a response from them has been jarring. Los Angeles had no business losing to Houston, but they have proven they are capable of losing to any team.
At this point, it is pretty easy to envision the Lakers falling out of the Play-In Tournament but perhaps they surprise everyone down the stretch.
James Worthy Reflects on joining ‘Showtime’
With how the Lakers have been playing, it has forced older fans to reminisce on the good old days of the ‘Showtime’ era headlined by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Worthy eventually became an integral piece, and he reflected on what it was like to join that special group.
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