Wow, The Lakers Are Terrible

Brooklyn Is That Way

So I caught much of the fourth quarter of tonight's Grizzlies-Lakers game, and got to see the Lakers' 10th loss in their last 12 games. The final score was 106-93, and it wasn't that close. With this, there was also...

> Kobe Bryant not getting multiple calls at the rim that he used to get in his sleep

> Dwight Howard going down with one of those injuries that big guys on bad teams get -- i.e., the for who for what ankle tweak

> The Grizz more or less running a layup and dunk clinic with scrubs like Jarryd Bayless and Darrell Arthur (18-9 in limited minutes, probably career highs)

> The Grizzly bench setting a season-high for points, and this one didn't have that much garbage time

> Bryant taking shot after shot out of the flow of the offense, aka Hero Mode for a guy who really isn't up for the job any more

> Invisibility from Steve Nash (7-3-8) and Pau Gasol (13-8-1, not even a starter any more)

> Body language that had lottery team written all over it

> Nothing from coach Mike D'Antoni to stop the bleeding or even slow the momentum

> Nothing from any other Laker bench player -- seriously, 7-2-1 from 37 combined bench minutes is as close to nothing as you can get in the Association)

> And the Lakers playing starters deep into the fourth in a road game where they were down by 17 with 5:20 left, because, well, the bench is even worse than the washed up starters

This team is going nowhere, folks -- and when your best player is an ancient shooting guard, and your other top players are all on the serious downside of their carer, it's not going to get much better in the dog days of January and February. And I couldn't be any more pleased. Today, next month, this playoffs and for a long time to come, Los Angeles belongs to the Clippers. (Now, if this actually manifests itself in that billion-dollar valuation coming down... well, probably not. After all, the Clips still pay rent to use Staples.)