The Los Angeles Lakers fired champion Frank Vogel after three seasons, the first to pay the price for one of the most disappointing seasons in NBA history.
The Lakers delivered a season far below expectations, finishing the program with a record of 33-49, failing to qualify for the playoffs, although 10 teams in the West did. Unacceptable appearance for a club that started the season with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and many veterans in the second role.
Vogel was fired just 18 months after leading the Lakers to their 17th title in his first season at the helm. Almost nothing went the right way for his next two seasons. He leaves with a total record of 127-98 and another one year contract in his pocket.
“Frank is a great coach and a good man,” said general manager Rob Pelinka in a statement. We will always be grateful for his work that led us to the championship in the 2019-20 season. “This is an extremely difficult decision to make, but we believe it is necessary at this stage.”
ESPN reported on Vogel’s imminent dismissal after the Lakers finished their season defeating the Denver Nuggets in overtime on Sunday. During a tense post-match press conference, Vogel admitted that he had not been informed of the club’s plans before they were chained.
It’s a shameful end to his career for Vogel, who has coached in Orlando and Indiana in the past. The Lakers won the championship in the Florida bubble in 2002, but failed to win a playoff round afterwards.
The Lakers have never looked like a top team this season, even after the exchange to bring in Westbrook and the hiring of Anthony to accompany James and Davis. They raced around 0,500 until January 7, when they started a 10-30 descent, exacerbated by Davis’ most recent long absence from injury.
Despite another impressive season for 37-year-old veteran James, the Lakers never found their way onto a roster of nine players over the age of 30 and 11 who were not at the club last season. Davis has made just 40 appearances in 82 appearances, while Westbrook has struggled to fit in with the Lakers’ idea of one of the worst seasons of his career.
All the noise caused by the reunion of the trio of James Davis and Westbrook before the start of the season never led to anything specific, the three players in the end played only 21 games together, with a record of 11-10.
The Lakers have used 41 different starting formations.
“At the end of the day, the reason we were not good is that we never went to the damn stadium together,” said James. You never managed to see all the possibilities of this club “.
Although Vogel accepted his share of criticism for his inability to straighten the bar, injuries to his core parts did not help.
Davis has played just 76 of the Lakers’ 154 games in the last two years. James was only able to take part in 101 games during the same period.
Nick Ners in the Lakers’ sights?
Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse is believed to be in the Los Angeles Lakers’ sights to succeed Frank Vogel, says Shams Charania The Athletic.
Nurse has a two-season contract with the Raptors. Therefore, the Lakers should get permission from the Toronto club before starting discussions with the coach.
In his first campaign as head coach in 2018-19, Nurse led the Raptors to the league. It is 186-122 in four seasons.
Juwan Howard, who leads the NCAA at the University of Michigan Wolverines, would also be a Lakers nominee, Charania added.
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.
Denver Nuggets announced Nikola Jokic He will miss at least four weeks due to a left knee injury.
Star center was diagnosed with left knee hyperextension. At the same time, tests confirmed that the three-time NBA MVP’s knee ligaments remained intact.
Jokic was injured in the final seconds of the first half of the 123-147 loss to the Miami Heat and limped heavily on his way to the locker room. He did not return to the site after a long time.
Before his injury, Nikola managed to produce 21 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds in just 19 minutes on the field.
Losing Jokic could be a big blow for Denver, as starters Christian Braun (ankle injury), Aaron Gordon (hip issue) and Cam Johnson (knee injury) remain sidelined.
Jokic averaged 29.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 11.1 assists per game this season.
Injury Update: Nikola Jokić suffered a Hyperextension injury in his Left Knee in last night’s match against Miami Heat. Nikola will be re-evaluated in four weeks. pic.twitter.com/NIDmlKAN81
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
11 games were played in the NBA regular season on the night of December 29-30.
Miami hosted Denver and earned a landslide victory.
The home team was ahead by 12 points with 41:29 to play in the first quarter, but the Nuggets were able to slowly win back in the second quarter. The teams entered a long break with the score tied at 63:63. The decisive factor in the match was the third quarter, when the Heat made an 11:0 move and led by 15 points at 84:69. After that the home team completely controlled the course of the game and only increased their advantage, achieving a crushing victory – 147:123.
The most productive player of the match was Powell, who brought 25 points to Miami, while Jaques (20 points + 11 assists) and Adebayo had double-doubles with 13 points + 10 rebounds.
San Antonio hosted Cleveland and suffered a sensational defeat.
Three-quarters of the meeting was fought evenly, with the teams responding to each other’s pushes with their own pushes and often staying within a shot or two of each other. That changed in the fourth quarter, as the Cavaliers went on a 15-2 run to take a 10-point lead, 94-84. They then maintained their advantage and won with a score of 113:101.
Cleveland’s main hero in this game was Allen, who had a double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Garland can achieve the same success with 15 points and 11 assists.
Toronto beat Orlando at home.
Magic started the match better and made a 14:2 move at the start. Afterwards, they took control of the course of the game and increased the advantage completely to +21 – 51:30 in the second 12 minutes. After that, the home team slowly started to close the gap and entered the long break with a score of 11-11 at 54:65. The third quarter was tied, so Orlando still had a double-digit advantage ahead of the final: 94:84. At the beginning of the match the play followed the same scenario but in the middle Toronto made a move with 15:0 and not only won it back but also took the lead with 105:102. The fate of the game was decided by Barnes’ free throws, which set the score at 107:106 with 1 minute and 27 seconds left in the quarter.
Barnes could not make a triple-double this time, but he did a double-double and got 13 points and 11 rebounds, while the most productive name in the victory was Shead with 19 points.
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Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo He gave a harsh response to the question about a possible trade to another NBA club:
“I’m here. Don’t ask me that question. It’s disrespectful to me and my teammates. I wear this jersey every day.
To say I don’t want to be here is disrespectful to the organization, the coaching staff, myself and everyone who worked hard to get me on the field. Don’t ask me this question. I am her. I’m going out in this uniform. And as long as I’m here, I’ll give it my all until the last second of the match.”
On the night of December 27-28, Antetokounmpo returned to the field after his calf muscle injury and became the most productive player of the game with the Chicago Bulls – 112:103.
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
