Timing is everything and it was all a mess for Lakers against Warriors

It wasn’t why they lost, but clock malfunctions during the closing minutes made for a bitter ending to a sour game for the Lakers on Saturday.

LOS ANGELES – Timing isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.

On Saturday, the Lakers seemed primed for a heavyweight bout against their longtime rival, the Golden State Warriors. Both teams had their stars available, one game was all that separated the two teams in the standings and a national television audience was primed for action.

Then, Murphy’s law went into full effect.

In the opening quarter, Anthony Davis was elbowed in the face. With his vision impaired and his eye swollen shut, he was forced to miss the rest of the game with a corneal abrasion.

Davis, who has been as consistent as they come this season, suffered an odd and unlikely injury at the most inopportune time. Beating Golden State is hard enough; to do it without your star big made this game an exercise in futility.

Sure, the Lakers hung around. Rui Hachimura had an incredible first half, scoring 10 points on 5-6 shooting and D’Angelo Russell added 14 points of his own on 60% shooting, but they were circling the drain with Davis gone.

“It shifts everything, Darvin Ham said after the game. “When you lose one of your main pieces, it’s going to change the rotation, it’s going to change the groups and the lineups that you are accustomed to having out there. It eliminates size. They’re a smaller team at the rim, so it takes another seven-footer out of the game for us.”

The Warriors may not be the superteam of yore, but you take out the rim protection Davis provides and no one can take his place or replicate his job, even for one night.

However, Jaxson Hayes did make a valiant effort.

He hustled on defense, finished a nice lob on a bad pass by Russell and was still slamming the ball with authority in the fourth, fighting to keep the Lakers within striking distance.

Los Angeles was, somehow, still in the game in the closing quarter and after a corner 3-pointer from LeBron James, it was clear this wasn’t a fake comeback. This was a two-possession contest.

On the next play, Curry missed a jumper and the ball went out-of-bounds with Hayes and Andrew Wiggins fighting for possession with the call going Golden State’s way.

The officials reviewed it and ultimately deemed it a successful challenge and a jump ball in favor of the Lakers. However, the review allowed the league to look closer at that Bron 3-pointer and upon further review, the shot was discounted.

“I’ve never seen that be called before like that in that particular time,” Bron said postgame. “That was kind of weird. It took some momentum away from us.”

Now the Lakers had two opponents, the Warriors and time.

Warriors are beatable, but time is undefeated, even if Bron tests that theory and pushes it to its limits.

With 1:48 left in the game, time literally started playing unfairly against the Lakers with not one, not two, not three, but four shot clock issues, forcing the Lakers to restart again and again.

The game’s stalling had everyone mad. Players were frustrated trying to stay engaged, fans booing grew louder and louder and even celebrities grimaced, looking like they wanted to head home but knew they had to tough it out and watch this mid-off to its completion.

The delay went well past ten minutes and after the game, Darvin Ham discussed the challenges this delay caused.

“It’s hard,” Ham said. “Guys stiffen up real quick after playing with such high intensity, and it throws off the rhythm of the game, but it’s out of anyone’s control when the computer malfunctions, so it is what it is.”

Ultimately, the best solution was for the Lakers PA announcer Lawrence Tanter to countdown the shot clock out loud for the players, audience members and fans at home to be aware of the time left during each possession.

The result for the Lakers was a Bron turnover followed by a Draymond Green lob to Jonathan Kuminga, putting the game officially out of reach.

When the clock finally struck zero, the Lakers crowd rushed to the exits, relieved to be released from a mediocre ending to a peculiar game.

What was supposed to be a marquee matchup ended up missing a key star and a phenomenal ending was robbed thanks to clock issues.

The Lakers are supposed to be peaking at the right time, but instead, it’s been a series of unfortunate events. AD has a new injury and players like Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt are still out. Now, they’ve lost several key games they needed to win, dropping a pair of games to the Kings and now, falling to the Warriors.

It is hard to come up with significant takeaways from this game for the Lakers, given AD’s absence, but one I have is this: there wasn’t much to learn from this game, regardless of the result. The truth is the numbers and eye tests say it all.

These are two once great teams who are now shadows of their former selves. The Warriors are now a ninth seed and the Lakers are tenth. Neither are contenders. It’s nostalgia that is impairing our judgment.

Sure, Bron can hammer a dunk here and there, and he is still incredible, scoring 40 points on Saturday. Curry is an electrifying shooter and his warmups are as entertaining as always.

However, what does that give you now, with both players well past 35? It gives you two aging stars playing in a young man’s game looking up at teams like OKC, Denver, and Minnesota with no realistic hopes of winning the Larry O’Brien.

They’ll keep playing, we’ll keep watching and we’ll hope they have one more run in them. That’s what nostalgia is all about. It’s why Top Gun got a sequel, why Star Wars is worth billions and why people are excited about a Mike Tyson fight in 2024.

In sports, nostalgia can be cruel.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow when the time runs out and you have to watch your heroes fail. Father Time may not have Bron down and out, but with Los Angeles at 36-32 on the season and now tenth in the West, the timing couldn’t be worse for what the 2023/24 Lakers are trying to do.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.