Locked On Lakers podcast is your daily ticket to stay ahead of the game and the first to know the latest news, analysis, and insider info for the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA. Hosts Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, who have covered the Purple and Gold since 2005 for media outlets including the LA Times, ESPN and The Athletic, offer traditional journalism, informal commentary, and offbeat humor to provide expert, local analysis. Locked On Lakers takes you beyond the scoreboard for the inside scoops on the biggest stories from within the Lakers locker room and all over the NBA. The Locked On Lakers podcast is part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.
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Lakers Lose to Indiana: Russell Westbrook Benched Late, Frank Vogel's Seat HOT, James Worthy Sad
What. A. Mess.
In one of the strangest games of the season (not a low bar to clear, by the way), the Lakers fell to a badly slumping Indiana Pacers squad, 111-104 at crypto.com Arena. With Frank Vogel's job security dominating the headlines, it felt a times like Vogel was coaching to prove a point to the front office as much as win the game, and that includes benching Russell Westbrook down the stretch of the fourth quarter.
Now Russ was not playing well - he finished 5-17 from the floor - but sitting him is a massive statement. An even more massive one? Vogel, asked his reasoning after the game, said simply that he was playing the guys he thought would win the game. Didn't try to defend Russ or softpedal it in the slightest. None of it sat well with Russ, who left without speaking to reporters. This, in many ways, is a nuclear option from a coaching standpoint, and felt like something a coach who knows he's on his way out would do.
Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports says that Vogel will be on the flight to Orlando Friday, but how many more after that? That's the problem the Lakers face right now. Every conversation, every game will be dominated by the question of Vogel's job security until they either fire him or say he's sticking around through the end of the year.
It's just one more bad night in a season that has seen too many of them. It even made Lakers great James Worthy, host of the team's pre-and postgame show on Spectrum Sportsnet, drop his whole body in a heap on the desk following the game.
They broke James Worthy.
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: The Lakers lost in a game that felt like Vogel's last... though it turns out it won't be.
SEGMENT 2: How do the Lakers get themselves out of this space, where every minute of floor time is a public referendum on their coach? A lot of winning or a lot of losing perhaps, but they're probably not capable of either. That's why they're a .500 squad.
SEGMENT 3: Wow, this season has been a drag, emotionally. The Black Mirror version of the title run.
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