This blowout is a microcosim of this season.
I don't want to appear to be an MDA Defender, but no coach, not Phill not Red, not Pat Riley nor Popovitch could coach this team to win a game.
The problem begins and ends with the Front Office, Mitch Kupcake for starters.
Our team is descimated and the Front Office allowed this happen. Pau and Artest could have been traded three years ago, when they were at their high water mark and had trade value. Kobe should not have been re-signed. We would have built around Dwight Howard and his defensive blocks.
But oh-no, hire a bunch of "veterns" who in reality are are injured and aging. Don't trade anyone, and run the team into the ground. The gas tank is now officially empty. None of the players you saw last night will be on the 2014-5 Laker squad. You know, I know it, and so do the players. They're just playing for stats for their next team. And who should blame them? If the Front Office doesn't care, why should the players? Pao, for all his perceived faults, is having a great season, and is the only exception. The rest of the squad wouldn't start for a single NBA team.
The Clippers, by contrast, took a doormat team, and hired a big guy (Griffin) and built around an aircraft carrier then added a supreme point guard and a first rate supporting cast of cheap role players. Neal O'Shea did a great job managing the Clippers before he left, and gets an A+.
Mitch Kupcake, on the other hand, gets a "F." And don't say this is on Jim Buss, because the missed opportunities (Pao and Artest) occurred before Jerry passed. Somebody has to take responsibility, and it ain't D'Antoni.