Lakers ‘embarrassed’ after historic loss
DALLAS: The Los Angeles Lakers crashed to the heaviest defeat in the iconic NBA franchise’s history on Sunday, slumping to a humiliating 122-73 loss on the road against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Lakers, who are in the midst of a rebuilding phase this season after two disastrous seasons, hit rock bottom in Dallas after a nightmarish first half that saw them trailing by 34 points at the break.
Lakers coach Luke Walton offered no excuses after a loss he described as “embarrassing”.
“We didn’t show up to play, honestly, which is frustrating,” Walton told a press conference.
“And honestly it’s embarrassing — for us as a team, for us as an organisation, for our Lakers fans that are so good to us.”
Walton however declined to be drawn on how he planned to respond to the rout.
“We have teaching points, but what I say to them behind those doors, that is between us,” Walton said. “I think they understand and would agree and would feel inside the same way that I feel.”
At one stage Dallas’ lead jumped up to 53 points as the Lakers collapsed.
“They were just picking us apart,” Lakers guard Nick Young said. “We didn’t fight back.”
Lakers youngster Julius Randle was even more blunt: “They kicked our butts today.”
The Mavericks, who are 15-29, snapped a two-game losing streak with the win as the Lakers fell to 16-32.
The Lakers problems were laid bare in ugly statistics — making just 13 of 37 from the floor in the first half, with nine turnovers.
“You’ve got to point to our defence. In that second quarter, I thought we did a great job defensively, setting the tone and setting the tempo,” said Mavs guard Deron Williams, who finished with 13 points.
“It created a lot of offence off the turnovers, and then just getting out and running. They only had 11 points in that quarter, so our defence got us going.”
The Lakers are one of the most successful franchises in NBA history with 16 championships but their fortunes have dipped in recent years.
The last of their NBA Finals triumphs came in 2010 while last season they finished with a 17-65 record — the worst in franchise history.
In Orlando, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson each hit seven three-pointers and the Golden State Warriors won their seventh straight game, beating the Orlando Magic 118-98.
Tied at the half, the Warriors woke up from West Coast time in the second half to pull away. This was the first Eastern time zone noon tip for them since 1995, when they lost by 34 points in Orlando.
Curry went seven for 13 on three-pointers and scored 27 points, while Thompson was seven for nine from behind the arc and had 21 points. The Warriors shot 19 of 42 overall from three-point range while the Magic went seven for 28.
In Minneapolis, Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and hit the go-ahead shot with 42.5 seconds to play to lead Minnesota over Denver 111-108.
Towns hit 13 of 19 shots and also had four blocks and Andrew Wiggins scored 24 points in Minnesota’s fourth straight home win. Shabazz Muhammad scored 20 points off the bench and the Wolves rallied from nine points down midway through the fourth quarter for the win.
In Toronto, Eric Bledsoe scored a careerhigh 40 points and had 13 assists and Phoenix handed Toronto their third straight loss with a 115-103 win.
Bledsoe was 11 of 17 from the floor, including four of seven from three-point range, and Devin Booker added 20 points as the Suns won their second straight road game following Saturday’s win at New York.
The victory also completed a season sweep of the Raptors for the first time since 2013-14 and improved Phoenix to 11-6 against Eastern Conference teams this season.