There was even a smattering of "We want Phil!" chants as the final seconds ticked away in a 94-79 loss to the woeful Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks came in to that game with a league-worst 6-24 record. They had lost eight of their previous nine contests and would go on to lose the following nine as well.
Yet Milwaukee got out to a 14-0 lead and held the Lakers without a single point until the five minute mark of the opening frame, en route to L.A.'s sixth consecutive defeat—the latter three of which came against the NBA's three worst teams at the time.
After that brutal performance, it became apparent that there would be no redemption for the Lakers this season.
Said Mike D'Antoni after the game, per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, "We didn't do anything well. Yeah, we're down at the bottom".
“You hope you don’t go any further than this. We’re struggling,” D'Antoni told Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
Lakers broadcaster James Worthy voiced his concern as well on Time Warner Cable SportsNet as the team walked into the locker room at halftime, having mustered just 23 first half points.
"This is ugly. It's getting worse. And they're playing like this at home," said Worthy on the Lakers' telecast (h/t Mike Bresnahan).
The question swirling around the minds of the Lakers' faithful is: Could this disaster have been averted?
And really, if we're being fair, it couldn't have.
Jim Buss, Mitch Kupchak and the Lakers' front office set the tone for the 2014 campaign last offseason, when they decided not to make any major roster shakeups after Dwight Howard left for Houston.
Instead, L.A.'s brain trust opted to pla...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
