As the most lucrative franchise in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers are a team cursed with great expectations.
Even on a Tuesday night game (without Anthony Davis) against the best team in the West, Laker Nation expects a win from the LeBron-led squad.
Instead, the Purple and Gold dropped their third straight in a blowout loss, despite getting 56 points from LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.
Predictably, fans were pretty upset with the poor performance.
LeBron over the last 12 games:
28.8 PTS | 7.7 REB | 6.8 AST
this man deserves better.. @Lakers pic.twitter.com/07lKJdvdIB
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) December 22, 2021
When you score 34 points and your team still lose by 20. pic.twitter.com/XRSwtzkDLA
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) December 22, 2021
Dont worry, #Lakers are still learning how to play together. Just 9 games until halfway point. Nothing to see here.🙄
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) December 22, 2021
https://twitter.com/DavidVe64270691/status/1473524236702552064
DJ IT and THT should be JOBLESS pic.twitter.com/2qot4YHaST
— ty (@tyharmon66) December 22, 2021
https://twitter.com/KidAndy24/status/1473524213361229825https://twitter.com/Zomb1fy/status/1473524312124510210https://twitter.com/LaFlame_45/status/1473525125626535936
— john (@groovyjwttp) December 22, 2021
https://twitter.com/Will_Herren2400/status/1473524181249712130
At 16-16 on the season, the Lakers are back at .500 once again, on par with the mid-tier teams in the Western Conference
At this point, the Lakers’ struggles are starting to look less like a rough start and more like the reality of their condition.
So far, the Westbrook experiment has not panned out, and there is no sign of that changing any time soon. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis continues to miss time with a multitude of different issues.
The fact is, the roster may be too flawed for even the power of LeBron James to overcome.
This partnership has been good for James’ longevity, but not the Lakers’ success. Los Angeles has a net rating of plus-2.4 when James and Westbrook are on the court together this season. With James on and Westbrook off, this rating jumps to plus-4.5.
“LeBron’s a bad GM; Russ is not a good fit there. He doesn’t need an older roster around him. They still need LeBron to do everything—not a good recipe for this stage of his career,” the scout told B/R.
Tonight’s loss was just more evidence that the Lakers are still far behind the true title contenders. The Suns, Warriors, Nets, and Bucks all appear leagues better than the 17x Champs.
And is James and co. want to change that, they’re going to have to make some serious changes,s whether it involves rotations, strategies, or the roster itself.
We’ll see soon enough if they have what it takes it turn it around.
