The Los Angeles Lakers finally win a basketball game, beating the Detroit Pistons 93-85 as Jeremy Lin helps out in more than just scoring while Byron Scott gets to celebrate a milestone despite doing the worst coaching job in the league this season.
Lin scored 12 points off the bench, nine of them from the line as he made 4-of-4 in the final 30 seconds of the game with the Pistons trying to somehow prevent their defeat. Lin was just 1-of-4 from the field and focused a lot on attacking the paint which resulted in a lot of trips to the free throw line but also getting blocked a couple of times by Andre Drummond. He also grabbed 7 rebounds and added 5 assists, three of them coming in the fourth quarter. Did we mention defense? It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone anymore.
Every time they had a small run, we were able to cut it off. That’s the way it’s got to be, with everybody pitching in here and there.
Lin played 28 minutes, and so did Jordan Clarkson, who for once had a better +/- than Lin. The biggest surprise? The Lakers actually didn’t fall behind in the third quarter. With the Pistons doing quite badly, this was one game the Lakers couldn’t lose even if they tried. They didn’t play so well in the third, scoring 18 points, but like everything in life, it’s all relative. Compared to the 11 points from the Pistons, this looked like a heavy rain of points.
Jordan Hill led the Lakers with 16 points as the entire starting lineup finished in double figures, including 10 for Clarkson on 4-of-12 from the field, also adding 8 assists. Ed Davis had a good day off the bench with 13 points, helping the Lakers win their first game since February 27, ending a run of five consecutive losses. The battle of the tankers comes up for them next as they host the Knicks, which is a special occasion for Lin which we hope Scott won’t ruin, followed by playing the teams with the best records in the league, the Hawks and Warriors, back-to-back on March 15-16.
Byron Scott coached in his 1000th game. He hasn’t had a winning season since 2008-2009. There’s a good chance the only positive things that happened to him as a coach are thanks to Jason Kidd and Chris Paul. But it doesn’t mean he isn’t allowed a chance to feel good about himself once in a while. We all know these opportunities are almost non existent this season, which is mostly his own fault.
This is Byron Scott in a nutshell: Obviously, the main thing on that bucket list is to win a championship as a coach. And there’s no better place for me to do that than here. I’ve learned a lot in 1,000 games, and I still think I have a lot to learn and to accomplish. Blind to reality, or maybe simply doing a good enough of job of hiding the ugly truth with some “words of wisdom.”
Scott isn’t going to win a championship with the Lakers. He isn’t going to stay for very long with them. Just a place holder until something better comes along, while the Lakers go through this terrible phase, which will probably keep going until the burden of Kobe Bryant is cast aside or simply runs out of time on his contract. This time, not renewing him should be the first order of business for the Buss geniuses to execute.
One response to “Los Angeles Lakers – Jeremy Lin is Helpful, Byron Scott is Delusional”
[…] We’ve already used the word delusional on Scott once or twice this season, and this interview shows us that he’s either lying through his teeth or actually sees something completely different when he watches the game we call basketball. Don’t forget – Scott’s teams haven’t won more than 32% of their games in a season for the last four. He’s not exactly a coaching authority or success story. It’s the exact opposite. […]