Despite a 37-point night from LeBron James, the Lakers took another L on Wednesday, suffering a 5-point defeat at the hands of the young Grizzlies.
It was L.A.’s 6th loss in 10 games, and a truly demoralizing one for all of Laker Nation.
After the final buzzer rang, LeBron James himself spoke on where things went wrong, breaking down the final moments of the game (when the Lakers had a chance to tie).
“Looked like Russ was gonna go back door at one point, then he backed back out and I was already in the air,” a solemn LeBron James recalled. “I had slipped before on my drive, which kind of threw my rhythm off.”
So in watching this a few times now, IMO, Monk doesn't look off Russ so much as Ja plays that pass incredibly. He closes out to Monk's right and then jumps into the passing lane when Monk might've made the pass. https://t.co/cMbZSqxGIc
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) December 30, 2021
He also talked about turnovers in general, which has been a consistent problem for the Lakers all season long.
“There’s a difference between careless turnovers and attack turnovers,” LeBron explained. “We gotta cut down on our careless turnovers — the ones that’s just unforced. We’re gonna have attack turnovers, which is OK. We have a lot of attackers and we understand that. But, the careless turnovers, where, literally, you just turn the ball over and there’s no pressure or there’s no reason for it, those are the ones that get us in trouble.”
Entering Wednesday, the Lakers ranked 28th in the league in turnovers per game at 15.9, with Westbrook being the biggest culprit.
Since his arrival, the star point guard has been vilified by Lakers fans for his flaws on the basketball floor. Whether it’s poor shooting, turning the ball over, or deficiencies on defense, Westbrook has shown that his game goes much deeper than triple-doubles.
The question is, how will the Lakers respond? Russ’ play is far from the only problem, and there are a number of things that need to be addressed before they can have any hope of turning things around.
