Came across some Laker tickets and went to the Knicks game. Great seats in the PR section right behind the TV commentators. Lebron and Davis were real good. Davis pretty much was in a war in the paint the entire time he was in the game, going 1 vs 2 (him against Randall and whatever Knick center was in at the moment-- Robinson, Noel, Toppin, etc.). For good or bad, Monk has cemented himself as the 3rd scoring option. Randall and Barrett played real well for the Knicks. Randall was an absolute beast and pretty much single handedly kept the Knicks in the game in the 4th quarter.

Which leads us to Russell Westbrook. He possible played his worst game ever (not just as a Laker, but ever). Was left wide open on the perimeter and couldn't hit a shot to save his life, and missed all his layups too when he went into the paint. The crowd was booing and jeering him pretty relentlessly too. Vogel actually took him out most of the 3rd Q and the beginning of 4th Q, while the Lakers made a run and turned a 15 point deficit into a 8 point lead. Then Vogel put him in the last 4 minutes of the 4th Q, and you could hear the collective groan from the crowd. And sure enough the Knicks came roaring back and tied the game at the end to send it to OT. And this included Russ getting internally fouled when Lakers were up 5 with about 1:30 left and missing both his free throws.

When Vogel left Russ on the bench for the start of OT you could hear the collective relief from the crowd, and Lakers cruised to an easy OT victory.


Such a disaster. What sucks is Lebron has been great all year, AD is really playing well since he came back from injury, and Monk has emerged as a great scoring option. If Lakers could have spent that $40M/yr on 2-3 good role players to fill out the roster (eg. Powell and Covington who the Clippers got for absolutely nothing but expiring contracts), they would be in such a great spot right now. But alas, it is what it is.

Even more concerning is the whole point of getting Russ was so Lebron could rest his legs while Russ did his thing. But the Lakers just cant compete when Lebron is off the floor and Russ is, and in his 1st game back from resting a sore knee Lebron had to play 40 minutes, mostly at point guard with heavy usage.