The Los Angeles Lakers had a rough night against the Boston Celtics on Friday. The two biggest winners in NBA history clashed in another chapter of this rivalry, with the C’s getting the best of the purple and gold.
LeBron James returned to action after missing the past couple of weeks due to an injury. His comeback didn’t prevent the Lakers’ loss, 130-108, at TD Garden. Jayson Tatum went off, dropping 37 points, leading his team to a comfortable win, worsening the Lakers’ situation.
After the game was over, LeBron reflected on the game, admitting they still have a lot of work to do before becoming a competitive team. James didn’t care about the 65 games left on the schedule, claiming they need to play better regardless of who is available.
“It’s never ‘we got 65 games left.’ We damn sure need to play better, no matter who is in the lineup. We have our system and we need to obviously fast-track it and get better with it so we can play no matter who is on the floor, we can play at a high level… there is no level of panic, but there should be some sense of urgency every time we hit the floor. I felt like we had moments throughout this game tonight we didn’t [have the sense of urgency]. We got to figure how we can keep that sense of urgency for 48 minutes.”
“Obviously being out two-and-a-half weeks, I just felt kind of like a rookie again after being away from the game.” @KingJames on how he felt in his return and the sense of urgency for the team. pic.twitter.com/Vk5566Emzc
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) November 20, 2021
The 4x NBA champion stated that they are working to get things together, clarifying that things are never as good or bad as they might look.
“For me, it’s never as bad as it may seem, and it’s never as good as it may feel. I stay even-keel during the whole journey. I understand this is a whole process for us. I’ve always felt comfortable when things are uncomfortable. I look forward to the process of us trying to get better, us getting better not trying. We will get better. We will improve. But us just being uncomfortable. We should be uncomfortable every single day in our film sessions, in our walk throughs, in our practices, anywhere we are on the floor until we right the ship. Until then we should be even more uncomfortable when things start to feel good because, like I said, it’s never as good as it may feel and it’s never as bad as it may seem.”
The Lakers entered this season with big expectations. They haven’t lived up to the hype after building a Big 3 with Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and LeBron James. So far they’ve struggled to find their touch and that’s frustrating for fans.
The first month of competition is gone and the Lakers can’t get things going. Time will tell if this trend continues or if they turn things around and become a competitive team that can aspire to title next year.
