The Lakers traveled to the home arena of the best team in the West and fell to a 111-118 loss. The Minnesota Timberwolves showed why they’re No. 1 in the West by handing the Lakers their fifth loss in their last six contests. LeBron James was hurt in this game, with fans expressing their disgust at how the Lakers played in their leader’s absence.
Game pic.twitter.com/Y2vtqEQU0C
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 22, 2023
Fans don’t think the Lakers can have any success without both LeBron and AD on the floor.
https://twitter.com/JerseyDaviss1/status/1738049681916395843
More criticism of Darvin Ham is going viral on social media after the loss.
https://twitter.com/cjsweet567/status/1738052769859113454
Fans are saying they won’t watch Lakers games until D’Angelo Russell is off the team.
https://twitter.com/LaRespectful/status/1738052741505704236
Fans started tuning out of the game because they knew the Lakers wouldn’t be able to beat the Wolves.
Lakers don't exist in my world, I'm watching Ja Morant vs Tyrese Haliburton pic.twitter.com/AdDlTNEwQX
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) December 22, 2023
Many fans expected a loss tonight but were still frustrated by the poor level of play.
Told myself I wouldn’t be frustrated about this game but the way these guys give away games is beyond frustrating. So many low IQ plays. They were right there and then start making so many mind-numbing plays. #Lakers
— Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT (@3cbPerformance) December 22, 2023
The rotational decisions the Lakers made left fans infuriated.
Ham is closing out with Prince at the 4 with 3 guards and AD?
How do you even let him get on the team plane after the game?
— Letting Go (@ProvideContext) December 22, 2023
More fans lamented the absence of LeBron James in this loss.
Moments down that stretch, Bron was missed bad. There were times AD didn’t even touch the ball.. no true PG out there to spoon feed guys.. tough L
— 4 4 4 (@SlimSleepr) December 22, 2023
The Lakers had a decent offensive performance with Anthony Davis leading the charge with a 31-point night with eight rebounds, four assists, and three blocks. Austin Reaves continued his streak of 20-point performances off the bench and Rui Hachimura had one of his best games of the season with 18 points.
The Timberwolves just outplayed the Lakers top-to-bottom on the night. Anthony Edwards led them in scoring with 27 points. Karl-Anthoiny Towns dropped 21 points of his own, while Mike Conley had 16 points with eight assists, and Rudy Gobert had 15 points with 13 rebounds and three blocks.
Would LeBron James Have Tipped The Scales In LA’s Favor?
It’s easy to say that the presence of LeBron would’ve made this an easy Lakers win given they lost by less than 10 points in James’ absence. But it’s been clear to many that Anthony Davis has been the most impactful player for LA this season. Even with his offensive inconsistencies, there’s no doubt that AD is among the leading candidates for Defensive Player of the Year.
The two games the Lakers have played with LeBron on the floor while AD is out to have resulted in one-sided blowout losses for the Lakers. This was the third game of the season where AD has played and LeBron hasn’t, giving the Lakers a 2-1 record in that span with this being their first non-LeBron loss.
Darvin Ham might just not be good enough to figure out how he needs to put the weapons on his roster to use. When LeBron isn’t there, he knows that the team needs to feed AD. But when LeBron is available, his coaching decisions become bizarre, including having games where he doesn’t run a single play for AD in entire second halves. This could be a competency issue ultimately.
The heat on Ham is increasing every day, as the blame will eventually have to be taken by him. The Lakers are not underachieving because of a bad roster anymore, they’re underachieving because the roster is being mostly misused, evidenced by Austin Reaves being benched in the fourth tonight, to compound the problems of Ham running rotations throughout the season.
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