Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-101 loss to the Orlando Magic on Saturday night, LeBron James compared his team to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“We’re like the Pittsburgh Steelers right now,” LeBron said. “You know what that mean? … The Pittsburgh Steelers right now have not outgained or outscored any of their opponents in this season right now and yet they got a winning record.”
(starts at 4:22 mark):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWdmpVfosEo
Saying the Steelers have not outscored any of their opponents is a slip of the tongue from LeBron, as you obviously can’t win a game if you get outscored. I get what he’s saying though. The Steelers are 5-3 this season but have been outgained by 790 yards and outscored by 30 points over the course of the campaign.
The Lakers, meanwhile, are 3-3 but have been outscored by 23 points in their six games. All of their wins have come by five points or fewer, while they have lost by double digits in two of those three defeats, with the latest being the one to the Magic.
This is not a recipe for long-term success, though, and you’re not going to win championships by playing like this. LeBron better hope the Lakers are not like the Steelers as the season goes on.
LeBron James Addressed Two Areas The Lakers Need To Improve In
There were a lot of expectations placed on the Lakers for the 2023-24 campaign after they made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals last season. So far, though, they haven’t played all that well and a 3-3 record is quite disappointing.
LeBron broke his silence on the Lakers’ early-season struggles by pointing to offensive rebounding and points off turnovers as issues for them. In this game, the Magic had a 19-10 advantage when it came to offensive rebounds and they turned 17 Lakers turnovers into 22 points off turnovers. These issues need to be addressed quickly, or else this sub-par start to the campaign will continue.
Darvin Ham Blasted His Players For Getting Dominated On The Glass
The rebounding was certainly a big talking point after the game and head coach Darvin Ham was not happy with what he saw from his team. L.A. was outrebounded 51-40, and Ham blasted the Lakers players for getting dominated on the glass by the Magic.
“You can’t scheme rebounding,” Ham said when asked if the rebounding issues had anything to do with the scheme. “You gotta wanna get the damn ball, plain and simple… There’s no play I can draw up to get more rebounds. There’s no play I can draw up to have more guys there.”
Rebounding does come down to effort and wanting to get to that ball before your opponent does. The Lakers failed to show much of that against the Magic.
That significant advantage on the offensive glass led to Orlando earning 36 second-choice points, compared to just 15 for the Lakers. Teams that get crushed on the boards get blown out more often than not, which is what happened here as well.
Another cause for concern for Ham would be the time LeBron is spending on the court. He had indicated that the plan was for James to not play big minutes this season, but that has gone out of the window.
LeBron is averaging 35.6 minutes per game this season and played 35 minutes against the Magic. He finished with 24 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals, and was a +12. Only one other Laker had a positive +/-, which shows they need him out there, but at the same time, they don’t want to burn him out. It is just a very tricky situation.
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