Before the 2021-22 NBA season started, most fans and sports pundits were convinced that the Los Angeles Lakers are the best team in the Western Conference. Some even argued that they will be the best team in the entire league as well. But the reality is often disappointing, right?
So far, the Lakers are struggling to live up to the huge expectations set for them in the offseason. Honestly, they have no one to blame for these struggles but themselves. Competing for the NBA Championship is not an easy task. The goal for the Lakers is definitely to win it all but to do that they need to play with that mentality every game.
Up until now, that mentality has been missing from the team. The best example of it is was the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite having a 26-point lead at one point in the game, the Lakers blew it due to lousy defense. Additionally, they took the OKC players for granted.
The reason? Probably because OKC has a lot of young players as compared to the Lakers squad being full of NBA veterans. This has been a consistent problem for the team as we saw it against the Golden State Warriors when Jordan Poole scored 20 points in just 25 minutes.
A similar thing happened against the Memphis Grizzlies when he scored 40 points. If it weren’t for a late free throw miss, the Lakers could have lost that matchup as well.
Against the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Darius Bazley assumed that role when they scored 27 and 20 points, respectively.
Jay Williams believes the reason young players are playing better against them is simple – they are not afraid of the Lakers.
“I’ve had some conversations over the last several days with some younger players in the league, which is kinda shocking to me because I haven’t heard a conversation like this about a LeBron James team, where they don’t find the Lakers intimidating at all. People are actually excited about playing this team… I think there’s a level of players looking at them and saying, ‘We don’t really respect the Lakers.’ Even though they got a championship, this team is older, they don’t play with a sense of urgency and yeah they can turn it on here and there but, maybe they won’t.”
"I've had some conversations over the last several days with some younger players in the league … they don't find the Lakers intimidating AT ALL."
😳 @RealJayWilliams pic.twitter.com/VKCiyscy3u
— First Take (@FirstTake) October 28, 2021
Jay Williams perfectly explained the mentality of players going against the Lakers this season. The Lakers were sold as this scary team that is unbeatable, but they are yet to show that urgency in their game.
They are taking things too lightly and it has already cost them three games. When LeBron James returns to the lineup, things might change as the team looks completely out of sync right now.
