LeBron James’s return hasn’t had the desired effect for the Los Angeles Lakers, as they haven’t been able to start winning games and could potentially be headed for the play-in tournament if things don’t improve soon. They are currently the 6th seed in the Western Conference and have an equal record to the Portland Trail Blazers and the Dallas Mavericks. A team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis should be a top-4 seed, and hopefully, they can turn things around after losing 3 straight games.
Anthony Davis has detailed what the Los Angeles Lakers need to do to start moving in the right direction. Davis has claimed that they can control the amount of hustle that there is on the court, and has stated that the process starts on the defensive end of the ball.
Davis on what LAL need to turn this around: "Energy and effort … we can control the hustle. It starts with our defense … we’re giving up way too many points. We have to be better on that end of the floor and that will help us get back to Laker basketball.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) May 3, 2021
The one thing that a team can control consistently during a basketball game is the amount of defensive effort that they put out. Sometimes an entire team can go through a shooting slump, but still, win games due to locking down their opponents.
While this season has been up and down for the Los Angeles Lakers, Anthony Davis is clearly right in saying that defense will help them get back on track. The Lakers are one of the best defensive teams in the league when they are playing well, and as long as they do that, then the rest will follow. The Los Angeles Lakers may be struggling, but they are still the defending champions who know what it takes to win.
