The Los Angeles Lakers were blown out for the second straight game on Tuesday, losing 127-100 to the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. The third quarter doomed the Lakers in Saturday’s contest against the Denver Nuggets and here against the Suns, so postgame, LeBron James was asked what has been their problem in the period.
“We’re not very good defensively or very good offensively the last couple of games in third,” James said.
James then stressed that the Lakers, who are now 10-7 on the season and 2-1 in the NBA Cup, aren’t losing any belief in the processes in place. They recognize that it will take time to see the right results.
“We are a process-oriented team,” James stated. “We understand it’s not gonna happen overnight, so you stay even keel. You never get too high and you never get too low.”
James was then asked if the nature of these recent losses had led to the Lakers going away from things they usually do, and he didn’t feel that was the case.
“No. I mean, obviously, during the course of the game you want to play better,” James said. “It’s that simple. When you don’t, obviously you get, ‘What can you do better,’ you’re frustrated at times, obviously. But you never get frustrated with the process. That is what it is and you keep working on it.”
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It would be an understatement to say the Lakers have played badly in the third quarter in their last two games. They were only down 62-60 against the Suns at halftime but then lost the third quarter 36-18. That all but ended the game as a contest.
Against the Nuggets, meanwhile, the Lakers led 67-53 at the half but then lost the third quarter 37-15. Head coach JJ Redick called out his players for not having the “spirit to compete” in that quarter and you’d have expected a strong response from the group after that but there wasn’t one against the Suns.
James himself didn’t play all that well against Phoenix. The 39-year-old recorded 18 points, eight rebounds, and 10 assists but had five turnovers too, and shot 7-16 from the field. James has not been at his best recently, averaging 21.5 points per game on 47.6% shooting from the field in his last six outings, but I am not too worried about his play.
I am a bit worried about the Lakers, though. They have now lost three games in a row for the first time this season and while it’s too early to hit the panic button, there are some worrying signs here. Their 118.2 defensive rating ranks 27th in the NBA and that’s just not good enough. The only teams below them are the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, and New Orleans Pelicans.
The Wizards have the worst record in the East while the Jazz and the Pelicans are the bottom two in the West. Those are not teams you want to be near in any category.
The Lakers certainly will have to make some moves to fix these issues on defense and if they don’t, the season will end in disappointment. For now, though, the focus will be on ending this losing streak and the Lakers face off against the San Antonio Spurs next at Frost Bank Center on Wednesday at 8:30 PM ET.
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