Defending champions, the Lakers have yet totally disillusioned this season. Released in the first round by the Suns, the Angelinos are now trying to find answers. One of the players on the roster delivered what he said caused LA to fall.
And to think that the ambitions were so high in the fall of 2020. Authors of a five-star recruitment during the offseason, after having already lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy, the Lakers find themselves on vacation even before the semi-finals. conference finals. The elimination against Phoenix (4-2) was the rotten icing on the failed cake that was 2020-21.
On the side of the Purple and Gold, we still have trouble digesting all this, and we are therefore looking for reasons, explanations for this fiasco. Asked by the Lakers Daily, Wesley Matthews has spoken in detail about the season of his franchise. According to him, the lack of continuity within the team due to injuries will have played a crucial role:
For most of the season we’ve been playing alternate days with the travel, which doesn’t give you a lot of time to practice, give your all and compete in training, and play live in the field. ‘training, and playing five-on-five and four-on-four or whatever in training so that you can see those looks live because you have to preserve your legs, you have to preserve your intensity for the when it really matters, that is, during the game.
We played I don’t know how many rotations that had never been on the pitch together at the same time, so it was always a learning experience for us and that’s why I just feel… I feel more like comfortable now. I think these guys felt more comfortable with me, understanding the situations, the times, the places and how to attack after a while.
When you play with them you realize that, “Yes, they play a certain way, but they also have other qualities and how can you highlight them? “It’s hard to do that without being able to play live in training, without facing certain situations for maybe two or three days of training, unlike a rhythm of a match, a break, a match. , break, a match, break.
It is true that the many injuries that have affected Californians clearly did not help, with in particular LeBron James and Anthony Davis absent for long weeks. As a result, their pace of play broke completely from April, which cost them several places in the standings as well as a loss in the first round. Enough to have a lot of regrets.
For Wesley Matthews, a lot of things could have happened differently if the Lakers had been able to evolve as a whole. An observation that stands, even if we will never be sure. Now we will have to look to next season.
