You know things have gone somewhat wrong for the Lakers when Alex Caruso is the third leading scorer for them in a playoff game. That’s not the gameplan going in. It’s not like Vogel is like “okay, LeBron, you do your thing, AD, back him up, but my idea for tonight is to make sure Mr. Baldy McMemeplayer over here takes over the bulk of the remaining touches”.
But that’s what happened. Caruso notched 14 points, leading all the Lakers’ random role-players in scoring. Rajon Rondo (who is apparently alive again) was the only other one in double figure. And things, indeed, went somewhat wrong; they lost to the Rockets, LeBron didn’t score in the fourth quarter, and everyone is panicking.
Oh wait, that’s just me, panicking about how the Bucks are about to get swept. I’m finding it very hard to concentrate on the topic at hand right now.
Good on Caruso for stepping up in the ‘offs. It’s a shame that no one else did, but his playoff resume was somewhat lacking before tonight, and that’s where legacies are formed and tales are written. No one’s going to remember Caruso in a few years (as anything other than a “meme player”) if he doesn’t start doing some things on the biggest stage. 14 and 4 isn’t “big”, exactly, but it is in comparison to whatever Kyle Kuzma was up to.