LOS ANGELES – I know how you are, Lakers fans.
You’ll see the 8-44 team on the court against your squad Tuesday night and expect a throttling. You’ll want to see the Lakers dismantle these young Detroit Pistons, easy.
And when it’s midway through the second half and the game is close, or – brace yourselves – the Lakers are trailing, you’ll be annoyed. You’re liable to start tweeting about trades that weren’t made. Because it won’t at all feel like a game between a 28-26 team and, again, an 8-44 team is supposed to.
Don’t freak out.
I’ve been watching this show all season. Not every episode of Pistons basketball, mind you, but enough to appreciate the coming-of-age premise: A young cast of lovable losers take their lumps, learn a lesson with each airing.
Give the screenwriters credit, the endings might be predictable, but the plots are not; there’s almost always enough suspense – and fast-paced action – to keep you from switching the NBA League Pass feed to another game. And you can count on new and creative ways to thwart the protagonists down the stretch.
A shovel pass out of bounds, down one point with a minute to go against the Golden State Warriors. A blind pass to the wrong team that sinks an upset bid vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. Juggling, fumbling, kick-balling – turnovers that almost strain credulity with games in the balance. Kids doing the darndest things, you know?
It all just makes for surprisingly compelling TV – or live theater, if you were at Crytpo.com Arena for Saturday’s matinee, when an elite Clippers team (35-16) had to lean on Paul George’s 15-point fourth quarter to down Detroit, 112-106.
And because we’re lookie-loos in Los Angeles and not exasperated, long-suffering fans in Detroit who haven’t witnessed a postseason victory since 2009, in my household Pistons games have become a familiar source of entertainment.
We started tuning in regularly, my basketball-loving teenage daughter and I, to…
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