The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a demoralizing defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night at Staples Center after Kobe Bryant missed a last second shot that would have won the game. In addition, Bryant missed a pair of free throws late in the game, but he had seemingly redeemed himself with a fall away jump shot that tied the game with 5.6 seconds to play.
On a night when the Lakers would give up 120 points, 5.6 seconds was too long to focus and play defense for the purple and gold.
After the game, Lakers coach Byron Scott could not contain his frustrations and let loose.
"(We weren't) ready to play: bunch of mental mistakes; bunch of physical mistakes," Scott said. "We looked at them as if they were inferior to us."
To carry this point home, Scott painted a picture and dropped an expletive in the process.
"(Have) you ever been to the zoo?" Scott asked a reporter. "Do you ever go see the gorillas, the elephants, the lions and moneys, and they're looking right back at you? That's what Minnesota was doing. They were looking right back at us. There's no one in the F&$% (slams table repeatedly)--nobody in this league that we should be thinking this is an easy win. Period. This team is young, they're going to play hard, they won't stop and we have to continue to play for 48 minutes and we have to be focused."
The Lakers weren't focused, and the coach was irked in a major way. He said only two or three guys had focus, and Bryant was one of them. Asked to name names, the coach balked and said he did not throw players under the bus like that.
Although Bryant finished with 26 points, five steals, five assists and five rebounds, he also missed four free throws. In a game that was decided by one point, each one of those missed foul shots will likely haunt the Lakers' superstar--along with the miss at the buzzer.
As much as Bryant could be blamed for the loss, he played a balanced game and shared the basketball. He only took 18 shots. The game was lost on the defensive end, and the Lakers' coach was clear about that fact.
"We talked about what we were going to do, change wise, at halftime," Scott said his team lacked focus. "We come out, they run the same play three straight times, we had to call timeout and remind the players what we were doing at halftime, and they act like we've never said it before. So, like I said, the only thing I can attribute that to is lack of focus. Not ready to play. Simple as that."
Scott said he provided the players "fair warning" in the morning, before the game, at halftime and after the game, but the team did not execute the game plan. According to Scott, the Lakers thought the game would be an easy victory, and it quickly turned into a frustrating loss.
"I don't know," Scott responded when asked if his players felt the same frustrations as their coach. "They weren't thinking tonight, obviously, so I have no idea what they're thinking right now."
Although his frustrations were boiling over, Scott still managed to maintain the slightest bit of optimism.
"We just keep working," the coach said. "Sooner or later, you get tired of getting the crap beat out of you, and you start manning up and doing what you're supposed to do. You can't play good hard-nosed basketball one night and then look at the opponent the next night, 'oh, we got an easy one tonight.'"
Scott added, "It doesn't work that way in this sport. You get your ass kicked doing that—excuse my language."
Notes: Former UCLA Bruin Zach LaVine scored 28 points, which was a career high for the rookie. LaVine only missed three shots and terrorized the Lakers with his hot hand. Jeremy Lin scored 18 points and had 11 assists (season high in assists). Iggy Azalea was court side watching her boyfriend, Nick Young, playing. Young scored 16 points on six of 12 shooting but committed a critical foul with 2.8 seconds left in the game. The Lakers have lost eight of nine home games this season.
