There’s no sugarcoating it, the loss the Lakers had against the Suns on Monday was an ugly one.
They didn’t just lose, they had no fight at all. Phoenix went on a 19-4 run to close out the first half, and the Lakers melted apart like a chocolate bar left out in the sun in the second.
The result was secured for Phoenix, and Los Angeles’ seven-game win streak came to an end.
After the game, the always thoughtful Lakers head coach JJ Redick had one explanation for his team’s poor performance: perhaps the Monstars had taken their powers.
“It’s very simple,” Redick said. “The talk about it before the game, to you guys and to the team, if you don’t play hard against that team, you’re going to get exposed. Multiple times in the first half, we have a numbers advantage in transition on the defensive end and guys just run by us. We talked about matching their physicality. Didn’t do that to any extent at any point in the game.
“Maybe there’s brain fog from three [games] in four nights. I don’t know. I don’t remember ever talking about going under versus lasers and [Collin] Gillespie’s making threes and Royce O’Neal’s making threes. I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s a weird sort of thing. It really is. It’s like the Monstars taking over people that you’ve grown to coach and they’re not doing anything that they normally do.”
In the original film classic “Space Jam,” the Monstars characters took the powers of Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues and Shawn Bradley.
If Redick’s theory is true, the Monstars must have zapped LeBron’s scoring ability weeks ago and taken the vision of Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić before Monday’s game, which would explain why they couldn’t pass Rui Hachimura the ball.
LeBron hasn’t conquered the Monstars yet, but he did beat the Goon Squad in the sequel “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” Once he figures out how to retain his powers and Reaves and Dončić‘s vision, the Lakers should be able to get back on track. Hopefully, he does that before LA begins their four-game road trip.
Jokes aside, the Lakers were overdue for a disappointing game. Even during their seven-game win streak, the effort was subpar. They were mainly winning because their offense was incredible and they were playing losing teams.
Phoenix has more talent, tries harder and wins more than LA’s most recent opponents. When the Lakers put on a poor performance, they got what they deserved.
“The basketball gods reward you and they also punish you,” Redick said. “And so in the moments when we had a chance to be rewarded, we didn’t do what we were supposed to do and we got punished and that was throughout the game, not just a singular moment.”
Now that this loss is in the books, the Lakers have to learn what they can from this experience and move on. LA’s big three have to be better and history says that they will be.
However, if the Monstars did take their powers, then Redick might have to play the non-impacted players. Perhaps that’s how Jarred Vanderbilt gets back into the rotation.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.