The Los Angeles Lakers keep faltering more in the 2021/22 NBA season. The purple and gold entered this campaign with massive expectations after creating a Big 3 with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. Nevertheless, they are struggling to find their touch after one month of competition.
Coming off a big win over the Indiana Pacers on the road, the 17-time NBA champions hoped to win their second straight game, but that didn’t happen. In a triple-overtime thriller, the Kings got past the Lakers, taking the 141-137 win against a team that tried hard but couldn’t do anything against their rivals.
Following the game, former Lakers stars James Worthy, Robert Horry were disappointed with the team’s performance. The legends called them out for their poor display and how they behave on the court, taunting rivals, unknowingly sparking their fire.
First, Worthy criticized them for not playing team basketball, showing how hard it is for him to watch this team (2:25).
“I just want to go home because there is really not a lot to talk about; I mean they were 15-44 from beyond the arc. AD was 0-5, LeBron was 2-13 and that’s all they shot going down the stretch with threes, whereas Monk was 4-7 from threes.”
“We don’t involve enough people, LeBron is great, and I love to see the ball in his hand… He’s a good three-point shooter; we got to do more than that; that’s not team basketball.”
Moreover, Horry talked about the way some players act when they take a lead, which doesn’t benefit the team and instead leads the rivals to find motivation and overcome big deficits (6:00).
“I watch the game, and as soon as they get a lead, they start smiling and having all these antics not realizing the other team is watching you. And that’s fueling their fire. I know that’s what this game has turned into. Everybody wants to throw antics up when they make a 3-pointer, they’re so happy they finally make a shot, but to me, you laughing and smiling –that right there is not professional. If you wanna be a championship team, you gotta come up with the grit and the grind, no smiling and just beat someone down. They’ve only won one game this year by 10 points, at Houston, and Houston is the worst team in the NBA. And you only beat them by 10 points. There has to be some type of sense of urgency. You’ve got to want to beat someone. You don’t wanna win a game, you wanna beat someone down. I don’t want to bring the past, but when we were with Shaq and Kobe, we wanted to beat you down and let you know that you were going to be in a fight and we didn’t fear you. You were going to fear us and you were gonna go home or be ready to go to the club because you weren’t gonna get a win up in here.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAS5QQ3s40c
Nobody in the Lakers Nation is happy right now. This team looked incredible on paper, but things haven’t gone in their favor so far. The players know they can do better; Anthony Davis claimed they can win 10+ games in a row, but things aren’t going well right now.
LeBron James blamed himself after the loss to the Sacramento Kings, so it’s clear they know things could be a lot better. Time will tell if the purple and gold can turn things around, but right now, the picture looks horrendous for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9a4M7YgSu8
