Los ANGELES I never take for granted the blessing and privilege of making a living off of watching basketball. After years of labor, I hope never to grow jaded or bitter like other people in this field. I aim to enjoy every second of it.

I had never seen the grind of a game like Friday’s, when I witnessed two terrible teams strain to stop one another, get a basket, or even keep a clean possession. In the end, the Lakers prevailed 101-94, but not before making their worst plays. They made 21 mistakes at the end of the game and only shot 43% from the field.
Given that every game is a “must-win” and that Joel Embiid is sidelined for the Philadelphia 76ers, one would expect the Lakers will play with the same vigor and intensity as they did against the Hawks on Monday. It was missing, for whatever reason, that focus.
Rather, you witnessed awful team rebounding, eight missed free throws, and poor shot selection. Only Anthony Davis, who had 19 boards and was as dominant as ever, and Rui Hachimura, who chipped in seven, performed well on the glass.
Darvin Ham discussed the frustrations in the game and how the Lakers found a way to obtain the desired outcome after the ugly win.
There’s a difference between unforced errors and competitive turnovers, so the one thing you can’t do is cause yourself pain by turning the ball over or getting frustrated because you didn’t get a whistle,” Ham stated after the game. “Some of our turnovers were competitive, guys just trying to get the ball to open guy didn’t quite work out, but just a bunch of ’em happened in a row.”
Then, playing against the shot clock, you have to throw up a hand grenade. That’s almost just like a turnover as well because you’re not getting a shot in rhythm. But again, our group buckled down, guys became vocal on the sideline, which was great. The dialogue, we’ve been preaching that all year and it’s really been at a high level here lately, just us talking things through and not imploding, just trying to figure it out. That frustration needs to be the prelude to focus. It’s human nature to get upset, angry about mistakes that are being made, but you can’t wallow in that emotion. You got to move forward quickly in order to still sustain yourself and come out on top of a game like this.”

The next task is to launch a hand grenade while competing against the shot clock. That’s virtually exactly the same as a turnover since there’s no rhythm to the shot. But once more, we guys stood our ground and were loud on the sidelines, which was fantastic. We’ve been preaching about communication all year, and it’s been really strong lately. It’s just the two of us talking things out and trying to work things out rather than blowing up. Prioritizing that frustration will help you stay focused. It’s normal for people to become irate and furious when mistakes are made, but you can’t let those feelings control you. You had to make rapid progress in order to maintain your health and emerge victorious from a game like this.
With the game in the balance heading into the last twelve minutes, Los Angeles trailed by one and looked on LeBron James and Anthony Davis, their two best players, to win it. They lived up to expectations, scoring the opening 13 points for the team and giving the Lakers a narrow lead that they would hold the entire time.
In the last ninety seconds, Davis had some impressive blocks as he turned away Tyrese Maxey and Kyle Lowry, ensuring that the Lakers capitalized on the Warriors’ defeat to the Pacers to win a game against their NorCal rivals.
Other positive aspects of the contest were D’Angelo Russell breaking the franchise record for most 3-pointers made in a single season and Spencer Dinwiddie scoring his highest point total ever for the Lakers with eleven. How much does the Lakers’ terrible performance matter? They won the game despite their awful performance.
They borrowed a strategy from the 1983 White Sox on Friday, ‘winning ugly,’ a nickname the team acquired by stumbling through wins in Chicago’s Southside while gaining a 99-win campaign.
It might just matter that they obtained the necessary outcome with twelve games remaining, since they are in dire need of winning to either host one elimination game or possibly avoid the play-in.
Even though the Lakers will need to improve on turnovers, missed free throws, and poor rebounding on Sunday against the Pacers, they won on Friday night and now stand 38-32 overall. That will have to do for the time being.