Daily NBA Fix: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers Are Worlds Apart

When the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers met on Tuesday night, everyone knew the reigning NBA champions would still be undefeated by the end of the night.

The two teams stand on opposite ends of the spectrum of success right now with one talking about a dynasty and the other about the NBA Draft Lottery.

For the Los Angeles Lakers there was little hope of pulling off and upset even if Kobe Bryant believed stranger things had happened. The Warriors have been winning by 15.6 points a game so far this season while the Lakers were only slightly better off than the Philadelphia 76ers as they’ve been averaging losing by 9.1 points a game.

The final score wasn’t even close as the Warriors won 111-77.

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The Warriors have set a new record with a 16-game win streak to start off the season and still are rewriting the way basketball is played at the NBA level.

While Golden State is led by a young core of players, the Lakers keep letting Kobe Bryant shoot almost 16 times a game, missing shot after shot from mid-range and deep, hoping that things will get better before they get worse. One team is making history, the other is a relic of it.

These teams couldn’t be further about in every way, including their approach and mentality towards the game.

Whereas Stephen Curry is on a rampage to keep his MVP award, Bryant is having the worst season of his career. He keeps on taking shot after shot as Byron Scott nods in approval from the sidelines. It isn’t as if the team is working on developing their younger talent either.

It seems Byron Scott is more about “old school” mentalities than letting D’Angelo Russell develop into the player he can be. I get having Russell earn time, but if no one else on the roster is playing any better why care you sacrificing the team’s future? Living in the past and letting Kobe get away with terrible defense as he shoots the team out of games helps no one.

All of this is entertaining, in a schadenfreude sort of way.

Kobe is shooting like he thinks he’s Curry, but unfortunately for him, he’s a 36-year-old Kobe that is coming off several season-ending injuries and shoot terribly from everywhere on the court.

Whereas Curry utilizes the entire arc and makes more than 40 percent of his attempts, Kobe pretty much avoids the corners while missing shot after shot as he shoots 19.5 percent from 3-point range.

Last night was the third time in Kobe’s career when he shot 10 or more times and only made one field goal. No one on the team scored more than 10 points.

Kobe was on my Murtaugh List when the season began, noting he was likely going to struggle as his body gave out on him, but not his career needs to be respectfully buried so we can unearth it again one day and put it in a museum.

I prematurely said Kobe was back after a good opening night, but it clear he’s letting his ego sink his own season, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers. He might be dragging the Lakers mystique down with him too.

PG-13 Drops 40 on Washington, C.J. Miles Nearly Perfect From Deep

It was apparently early that Paul George and C.J. Miles were shooting the ball well, but by the time the dust had settled the two had made 15 of the Indiana Pacers’ franchise-record 19 3-pointers.

George led the way in the 123-106 win with 40 points while Miles scored 32 and was 8-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc.

Splash Brothers East?

He’s joking guys.

Alley-Oop 3-Pointer by Griffin

Blake Griffin completing an alley-oop is hardly newsworthy. But if he’s making that oop from beyond the arc, that deserves our attention.

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The Los Angeles Clippers won 111-94 over the Dever Nuggets while Griffin and DeAndre Jordan led the way with 18 points each.