Sometimes, it’s just not meant to be.

The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Phoenix Suns 113-100 about half an hour ago as I start this. A long, injury plagued season has come to a somber end, with plenty to discuss in regards to the purple and gold.

I’m kind of just going to jot down some raw-ish reactions to the game, with some of those big picture things sprinkled in here and there. But whatever I feel like I missed I’ll maybe compile into another Laker post before taking a hiatus from them, as depressing as that is for me. I LOVE THIS TEAM MAN. I wish we had another one Saturday more than anything. But, again, sometimes the Gods have chosen someone else.

Lot to unpack, let’s do it.

-I give Anthony Davis all the credit in the world for fuckin’ trying, man. The guy was not moving at all, mobility at like 10-20%. Still he was trying to close out on shooters and make his presence felt on defense, but on offense he was a training cone. After that final little burst he tried to give to stop a drive, you could tell it was done. I didn’t even flinch when they announced he was “questionable” to return, to be honest. The only scenario I could even fathom was the Lakers storm back enough to take a tight lead into the closing seconds, and on the last possession, he plays defense. Otherwise, it just wasn’t there. I applaud him, again. AD’s taken a lot of crap for being soft, and that effort should show fanbases around the association to think twice about coming to the table with that. Fragile? Sure. Soft? Not a chance. I love you, AD.

-Dear Lord, did the Suns jump out early. Slow Laker starts are literally the theme of every Laker post that exists on this blog, but these guys were giving Devin Booker (of ALL people), Jae Crowder, and company the most room service looks to settle themselves in with right from the jump. I don’t know if it was a lack of urgency, something no team facing elimination should ever fall victim to, some miscommunications with a new starting 5, or what, but that huge lead I figured was all but insurmountable, taking a lot of wind out of my sails early. Credit the run, but even a run that lasted an entire half was too little, too late with that gigantic ass deficit.

-If any of the Laker faithful are hanging their heads, don’t. This Phoenix team is for real. We saw flashes of it in the final bubble games last year. We’ve known Devin Booker is a flamethrower for years. It was just a matter of whether or not they could get a star, and/or have the young guns put it all together to turn them into a real competitor in the West. And they did both. Chris Paul’s calm and poise late in games visibly rubs off on the other Suns, especially the youngins. He’s 180’d the franchise just like he did in OKC, only the Suns had way more expectations that last year’s Thunder. Anyway, it’s good to see him getting some love again.

-Cam Johnson is more solid than I was previously giving him credit for; thought he was another not so good Suns pick but he was great in this series. I like Bridges’ activity on both ends. Deandre Ayton has also made me recant some past criticisms about being another unwise pick. He’s manning the middle perfectly for this smaller Phoenix team, even severely outplaying AD in Game 1. They’ve had a nice nucleus brewing for some time, and it’s on full display now.

-I know I said it already, but Devin Booker is here. I thought he was like 90% here, but after tonight, he’s here, dude. Holy. Every time the Lakers sniffed cutting it to single digits, he had an answer. As the big time talents in the league do, obviously. The new era is upon us: Book, Tatum/Brown, Luka, Spida, Trae, Ja, Zion, etc. It’s going to be fun. I feel old, thank God the LeBron’s and Melo’s and D-Rose’s are holding tough to help me out.

-Whether or not Dennis Schröder returns next year is perhaps the largest question mark of the offseason. He didn’t play phenomenally well down the stretch, but I think he showed his value tonight despite the loss. He leaves absolutely everything out on the floor, and with an older team, spark plugs like that are pivotal to your success. Just ask Alex Caruso, who the Lakers should be nailing down to make a return above literally all else. Dennis diving after balls left and right, attacking the rim with conviction, and just rubbing his nose everywhere he could was a huge part of the Lakers even making this thing interesting for as long as they did. His offensive numbers took a bit of a dip from his OKC totals, but every player ever who joins a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis is going to see their offense decrease in some capacity, it just comes with a gig of playing alongside two of the top 5 guys in basketball. But he provides a speed element that the team kind of lacks and he plays his ass off. Couple that with a desire to come back, which he’s reiterated at the start of the season, and again here postgame, I’m in on Dennis. Especially with Talen-Horton Tucker appearing to both still be a few seasons away in terms of experience, and also being a potential trade piece to acquire even more talent. Hopefully the two parties can come to an agreement this summer.

-Speaking of Caruso, not saying the comeback was all that probable, but I have to imagine his intangibles at least further the cause a little, right? I don’t see how AC isn’t given whatever he wants by Rob Pelinka and friends: his teammates love him, particularly LeBron (good for anyone seeking a payday in the NBA), he does all the little things that help your team win, and us Laker fans adore the guy beyond measure. Alex Caruso, a must for the franchise in 2021. Who’da thought? Not 2017 Mat McKenzie, that’s for sure.

-I didn’t think LeBron ever got back to where he was prior to Solomon Hill nose tackling his ankle. And he basically confirmed that in these postgame interviews. I gotta give Bron credit for the effort tonight. He dug deep into that playoff minutes bag to try and shock us once again with his agelessness, but to no avail. I know it was the culmination of the season, the night in general, not having AD, but he was really done in those last couple of minutes in terms of caring. I usually, for whatever reason, give LeBron the world’s longest leash for this type of stuff. Hell, I left the “saw three rims” thing more alone than I think anyone else did. And I’ll initially defend him here as well. Again, coming up short on an exhausting comeback effort like that is as demoralizing as any. He knows as well as anyone that this series isn’t even a thing if the team’s at full bore. He also didn’t get a lot of calls tonight, I’ll just be real. Phoenix’s defense was stellar all year, but if you’re telling me both Camerons, Book, etc. all played such perfect defense on every drive to only send Bron to the line 6 times (one which was the tech free throw he bricked, why he shot that we might never understand), I have to push back at least a bit. And, as well documented as it is, I’ll say it once more: the guy is ancient BEFORE you add on the total minutes and whatever’s left. I get all that stuff urging him to jog or even walk back towards the end. But on one possession he didn’t make it past half-court for like a full 15 seconds. Like, no show in the frame for almost an entire 24. It was a little too demonstrative for my liking. I’m not going to crucify the guy for it, just can’t go unmentioned. Especially coming from a fanbase who saw Kobe knock down two free-throws on a torn Achilles. James and the team definitely showed enough fight for a lifetime tonight, and the game was honestly over when he started taking inventory out there, but again, gotta at least point it out.

-I think one of the most disheartening things about the season ending is that we almost never truly got a taste of this team’s potential. I mean, nobody can deny the fact that we were roasting people again before the injury bug flew in our open window. Hopefully these guys like Dennis feel like they want to run it back. When it was clicking, I was high atop the Marc Gasol support mountain. He’s another guy I hope they can work back in, but I’ve gotten the vibe he still considers himself a guy who should be playing more than he did this season. And with Drummond likely being the return starting center, that would put him back on the bench, and more likely on the road out of town. Drummond had more bad moments than good, but again I won’t sell the farm on him since we barely saw him alongside LeBron and AD, let alone for a long enough stretch to get comfy. Like I said, hopefully all this accumulated talent wants to run it back. Or at least most of it.

-Gotta say though, for how deep we considered this team to be on day 1, turns out it was mostly on paper? I mean, any meaningful games at full health had closing units of Bron, AD, Caruso, KCP, then Dennis or Wes being the new guy outlier. The Gasol, Harrell, etc. signings did help relieve some regular season load, but again, when we needed it, we saw that Vogel’s best 5 was a 5 we kind of already had. Just something that was brought to my attention the other day, and I haven’t really gotten over. Not to say the moves were “bad” moves, but you know. I get them all. You do the McGee to Cleveland deal to get McKinnie and in-house THT to fill the JR Smith/Dion Waiters experiment spots. You do Matthews to replace Danny Green 3&D. I think they knew they could get Montrezl coming off the 6th Man of the Year, and with that, would’ve made Dwight the starting center upon return, which probably wouldn’t have been great to maximize his whole thing. So they let him walk and spring the Gasol deal to lock in the starting center slot. Then obviously Dennis is Dennis. So again, I was, and am still in on the moves and saying the Lakers’ depth was crazy, just didn’t ever really materialize.

-I might be done with Kuz, man. I love the guy, you know? He’s the last remaining member of the baby Lakers. You could stretch and make the case for Caruso, but Kuz is a true founding member. And I know the Lakers don’t do him any favors. He’s a volume guy that needs touches, on a team where the ball runs through 3-5 other guys before him. And credit him for greatly improving what was a dismal defensive resume. But this ain’t it for him, man. Kuz has to go to a team where he can jack 20 shots a night without consequence, and see if he can put it all together in some meaningless games, and then we’ll see. With AD out, he took his moment to step up and fill the hole, and shrunk in it. Again, we know the Lakers’ injuries hurt everybody in terms of getting comfortable in rotations and roles. But it’s the fact that we know it’s there for Kuz and that we probably won’t ever see it alongside our dynamic duo that has kind of ended the relationship for me. Like, we saw rookie Kuz go toe-to-toe with actual guys offensively. I’ll never forget him dropping nearly 40 in Houston against Harden, when it wasn’t out of the realm of imagination (AT THE TIME) that he was as good, if not better, than Jayson Tatum. I’ll argue to the death about it. So who knows what trade value he has, but I can’t be the only one thinking a change of scenery might unlock his potential.

-I don’t have a ton of criticisms for Vogel. Obviously getting Drummond to sign here came with some underground incentives, especially with how we saw Vogel staying so adamant to start him upon arrival despite some less than excitable efforts from him. He’s an automatic 10-10 almost, and bringing him back as well, again, I’m in to at least try. Another bullet point I’m chalking up to injury bug. Navigating a 3-center set, when one (Harrell) simply cannot guard a single soul, having your two stars out for a significant period of time, and some key guys largely underperforming down the stretch (Kuz, Morris, etc.) are tough for any head coach to maneuver. The Lakers were the best defensive team in basketball, even with AD and Bron missing big chunks of time. So obviously his defensive scheming was still way above par, just need to retool.

I think that might be it for now. Again if I missed something I’ll either add it on here or lump it into another post.

I will say, thank God the Giants are more than relevant at this juncture, because if they weren’t, I’d be in for a dark sports stretch until the Browns retake the field. I mean, Lakers are out, and obviously as a Laker fan that stinks.

But Steph is out, Dame is out, if Dallas loses Friday, Luka is out. Tatum is out. Heat are out, so no Jimmy Butler antics. All I’ve got left is watching Brooklyn either completely dismantle teams or somehow flunk out before the Finals. Obviously, there’s more than enough talent left. But it’s just, meh. I’ve never been a huge Giannis guy. Watching more ‘hack-a-Simmons’ might be fun for half a quarter. Obviously dislike the Clips, but even if I was neutral, Kawhi and PG just aren’t the most fun guys to watch, I’m sorry. They’re fucking incredible (well, Kawhi mostly), but like, you get where I’m coming from?

Like, a Utah-Milwaukee Finals is completely realistic.

Word?

So God bless the San Francisco Giants for over-achieving.

Rest up, Lakers. I miss you already.

And good luck to the Phoenix Suns.

If you’re going to knock out the Lakeshow, you might as well go all the fuckin’ way.

Cheers.