The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the best Soap Operas in sports this year thanks to their horrible season which looked quite promising with the arrival of LeBron James. By Christmas Day, the team was fourth in the Western Conference and looked like a real contender to compete for a championship. From there, things quickly deteriorated for the Lakers and now they find themselves 11th in the Western Conference with almost no hope at making it to the postseason. On Sunday, the team's season was summed up quite nicely as they lost to the league-worst Knicks, 124-123.
LeBron was blocked on a last-second attempt to win the game, which dashed the Lakers' hopes of picking up the W. To make matters worse, LeBron shot 4 for 15 from the field during the fourth quarter, which was one of the worst quarters of his career. After the game, head coach Luke Walton defended James.
"He's one of the all-time great players in our league," Walton said according to Sporting News. "He understands time and score and everything else. So, he's earned that right to take the shots he feels comfortable with. As opposed to some younger guys, you draw things up and tell them what to look for and tell them where to go at what time."
The Lakers are now 9.5 games back of a playoff spot with a record of 31-39. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Lakers were only three games back.