By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
Tuesday night will feature perhaps the greatest tanking battle of our generation when the 0-18 Philadelphia 76ers take the court against a Los Angeles Lakers team with the second-worst record in the league at 2-14. The Lakers have been utterly inept in almost literally every facet of the game this season, featuring both the third-worst offense and the third-worst defense in the NBA. Head coach Byron Scott is so clueless at his job that he doesn’t go on Instagram anymore because Lakers fans are too abusive in the comments.
It would be more palatable for Lakers fans if the team was struggling because of growing pains from a young core of Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, and Julius Randle. Instead, much of the opportunity for the youngsters to spread their wings has been stifled by extensive playing time for the likes of Lou Williams, Nick Young, and Metta World Peace. And then there’s Kobe.
On what’s now officially his final lap before heading into retirement, future Hall-of-Fame basketball player, subpar poet Kobe Bryant is shooting just 30.5% from the field on 16.9 attempts per game. Bryant is the only player ever in the shot clock era to have a field goal percentage below 31% while attempting at least 16 shots per game. Rather than helping usher in the next generation of potential Lakers stars, Kobe is making them stand in a corner while he jacks up contested jumpers in an effort to relive glory days that will never again return. On many occasions this year, the former Lakers MVP has been the most valuable player for the opposition.
The irony is that, practically speaking, this game is the last one Philadelphia would want to win. As I alluded to in the Memphis recap, the Sixers organization would benefit greatly from losing this game for a couple reasons. First, as hard as it is to believe, the Sixers aren’t a lock to finish with the worst record this season. A win against LA would put Philadelphia just one game behind the Lakers in the win column. Also, much like last season, the Lakers are very much at risk of being too bad for their pick owed to Philadelphia to convey this season.
That pick is still top-3 protected, and if Los Angeles finishes with the second-worst record, there would be a 55.8% chance they end up in the top-3 of the draft and the Sixers don’t receive the pick for yet another year. So as much fun as it is for Sixers fans to watch the Lakers crash and burn, they should actually be rooting for Los Angeles to win games at a slightly higher rate than they have been so far this season.
Of course, even given those realities, I think every Sixers fan is rooting for the team to earn its first win Tuesday night. It’s been a full 8-plus months since Philadelphia won a regular season game, and for the sake of the fanbase, the players, and Brett Brown’s sanity, they need to pull out this victory back here in Philadelphia. The Sixers are only 1.5-point underdogs, which given their 0-18 record is pretty remarkable. With Philadelphia having played teams tough on the road lately, I think Tuesday night at home, against an equally inferior opponent, is when the team stops the skid.
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