A Swaggy P without his swag is a sad, sad thing. Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young was benched for the vast majority of Sunday's loss to the Houston Rockets, and head coach Byron Scott was blunt about his decision after the fact, via ESPN's Baxter Holmes:
"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."
Young played a total of eight minutes in the game, missing two shots, comitting three turnovers and going scoreless for the first time since he played for the Philadelphia 76ers. He didn't see the floor in the second half. In a highly uncharacteristic move, Young left the arena without speaking to reporters.
Other Lakers doghouse news: Jeremy Lin, who is now backing up rookie Jordan Clarkson -- what a season it's been in Los Angeles! -- played 28 minutes against Houston and got to the free throw line 14 times. This was a day after Scott surprisingly gave Lin a DNP-CD against the San Antonio Spurs.
