Nick Young Not Quite Embracing Role as Lakers Defensive Anchor, Gets Benched
Nick Young was benched on Sunday night during the Lakers 99-87 loss to the Houston Rockets in L.A. I’m not sure why. As you can see in the moving picture above, Young was playing help defense to the best of his abilities. Coach Byron Scott disagreed. Via ESPN:
"“It looked to me that he didn’t want to be here,” Scott said. “At halftime, we showed stuff on the tape where he was guarding [Houston swingman Corey] Brewer in the corner. I asked [Young], ‘What were you thinking on his play?’ The answer he gave me, I couldn’t figure it out. So I just felt with his body language that he didn’t want to play tonight, so I chose not to play him.”"
Damn. If not wanting to play defense is going to get you benched on the 2014-2015 Los Angeles Lakers then I’m not 100% certain they know what tanking means.