The Lakers just suffered the worst loss of their season by far against the Houston Rockets, as the surging Texas team won 94-128 on their home court. This was Houston’s fourth win in a row, while the Lakers just lost their third game in a row.
Fans were concerned about the Lakers winning with Anthony Davis out hurt, but this one-sided demolition has shocked fans across the league.
Final pic.twitter.com/Add7ALdHMA
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 9, 2023
Laker fans were expecting a big year after a strong offseason, but even they’re admitting that the start to this season hasn’t been fun at all for the franchise.
We were supposed to be having fun this year
The fun has not started yet for Lakers fans
Literally no game has been fun from start to end
— 🏆LakersGuru🏆 (@GuruLakers) November 9, 2023
Jalen Green led the Rockets offense admirably and continued a trend of having big games against the Lakers.
Jalen Green when he see the Lakers on the schedule pic.twitter.com/YeNNdlSUvO
— T (@Y0itsT_) November 9, 2023
Laker fans were ruing the lack of perimeter defense on their roster, especially with former Laker Alex Caruso locking up Kevin Durant.
Alex Caruso just clamped up Kevin Durant for 5 minutes straight
Meanwhile the lakers backcourt D Lo and Austin Reaves can’t guard a parked car
💔💔💔
— Mark Jackson’s Burner (@casualtakeking) November 9, 2023
Laker fans realized their roster makeup is concerning as the team can’t score without LeBron or defend without Anthony Davis.
Lakers obviously down a lot of key guys …but the fact they don’t have an identity other than being decent offensively (only with LeBron on the floor) and decent defensively (only when AD is on the floor) is major concern.
— Ry (@JustRyCole) November 9, 2023
The only silver lining for Laker fans is that the Clippers have looked really shaky since the James Harden trade, sitting at 0-2 in their first two games.
Lakers are trash but at least Clippers are a two pack of ass with James Harden as well pic.twitter.com/BNsHxCxY9Z
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) November 9, 2023
Fans mocked everyone who thought the Lakers had the most depth heading into the season.
"Lakers most depth and best off-season in the NBA" https://t.co/gPdXHiylq1
— Old NBA Tweets (@oldnbatweetz) November 9, 2023
This loss meant the Lakers’ record fell further below .500, a major concern for the franchise and its fans.
https://twitter.com/cjsweet567/status/1722455335758074045
The Lakers didn’t match the energy of the Rockets from the opening tip, getting outscored by 13 points in just the opening 12 minutes. LeBron James had a passive night and scored just 18 points with two assists. D’Angelo Russell had a decent 20-point outing, with Rui Hachimura putting in a great shift off the bench to score 24 points and even block three shots over his minutes.
The Rockets had many great performances tonight, but Jalen Green’s 29 points are the main headline. Fred VanVleet’s shooting struggles continued, but he dropped 10 assists to help the entire team get their offense going. Alperen Sengun dominated the paint without Anthony Davis and scored an easy 19 points to make sure this win ended up with the Rockets who are looking to make a play-in push this season.
The Lakers Need More Firepower
It may be time for the Lakers to start putting out feelers on the trade market, as their 2022-23 style of relying on depth in the playoffs may not be good enough this year. Austin Reaves has regressed to the player we saw for most of last season, averaging 13.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists on 41.6% shooting from the field. Through the first eight games of the year. He was supposed to be the third star and he’s fallen massively short of those expectations.
D’Angelo Russell has been great for the Lakers, but he’s being put out of his depth. He cannot carry most of the scoring like that, so it’s clear the Lakers need an addition. Their aggressive moves last season helped them make a Western Conference Finals run, but what could they do this season? LeBron is still sensational, but it’s clear age is limiting his production and on-court load right now.
With Davis initially saying he’d play against Houston, fans will be praying he returns to the lineup in time for the Lakers Friday night clash with the Phoenix Suns, another team who have started the season a little slow. With the Suns already having lost to the Lakers this season, they’ll have extra motivation to get their revenge, even if Devin Booker is out injured.
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