This is the Hangover. This is where I get drunk on the NBA as I recap last night’s action as well as a few things going on around the league. Here’s your word vomit.
01/22/2017
THE GAMES
GS 118 (38-6) @ ORL 98 (18-28)
LAL 73 (16-32) @ DAL 122 (15-29)
PHX 115 (15-29) @ TOR 103 (28-16)
DEN 108 (18-25) @ MIN 111 (16-28)
(PHOTO CREDIT: Ron Jenkins/AP.)
BLOWOUT CITY
As you have noticed in all the shootyhoops going on in Championship Football Sunday, the Lakers lost by quite a margin. A huge margin. So huge that it was the most lopsided loss in franchise history. 49 points.
That’s not really close to the most embarrassing loss in terms of margin of victory in the history of the league, though. Since you’d likely not look for those kinds of things, I did you guys the favor! Here is the list of biggest margins of victory in NBA history. From Basketball Reference:
On slot #43 is the Lakers’ most recent loss to the Mavericks. Everything has to go wrong for the team and everything has to go right for the opponents to have this kind of plastering to happen.
So this Laker crop don’t have to worry about having the most in league history. But they do have to live with the fact that they set the futility in team history.
And usually it’s the Lakers that are the ones smashing teams like that. That 55-point win over the Cavaliers was actually six years ago but it seems like a lifetime ago.
One more bonus? January 22 seems to be historic for this franchise. 11 years ago, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Raptors to have the second most points by a player in league history. The Lakers, as a team, couldn’t even break that against Dallas.
Times have changed, indeed.
THE REST OF THE LEAGUE
The Raptors have been an uneven 6-8 in their last 14 games and are losers of their last three. Might be a little bit rougher as they try to protect their second spot with DeMar DeRozan out in the next couple of games.
We are still wondering for all the Western Conference teams on what to do. Especially the Lakers. They have the worst record in the West but are only 5.5 games out of the 8th seed. They can lose their pick if they’re not in the Top 3.
Even an early day can’t stop the Golden State Warriors. Don’t let them get warmed up. The Magic found out the hard way.
Hey, Eric Bledsoe. Nice to see you. Speaking of which…
LINE CROSSER
(PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Young/The Canadian Press/AP.)
Bledsoe can sometimes be a forgotten man in Phoenix. But he put up some numbers on Sunday:
40 points, 6 rebounds, 13 assists
And he wasn’t the only Sun doing things.
WATCH THIS PLAY
(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)
Marquese Chriss went and got that for the incredible stuff.
Follow Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass for all tweets about the NBA. Also, check out his podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental.
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