Safe to say the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t feeling too good about themselves after opening night. They were completely outclassed by the Warriors as the defending champions showed them just how far they have to go if they are to seriously contend for a title.
It was a relatively close game up to half-time, but a trademark 3rd quarter blitzkrieg by Golden State all but ended the game as a contest. The Lakers tried to mount a comeback in the 4th quarter but ultimately fell short as they lost 123-109. One of their biggest issues from last season came back to bite them in this one too, as they had a terrible shooting night.
LeBron James Gave A Brutally Honest Answer On The Lakers’ Poor Shooting Against The Warriors
The Lakers ranked in the bottom 10 for three-point percentage as a team last season at just 34.7% and they went a dreadful 10-40 from beyond the arc against Golden State. That number actually makes it seem better than it was, as, through the first three quarters, the Lakers were 6-31 from three before connecting on 4-9 in the fourth. LeBron was asked about their poor shooting, and he gave a brutally honest answer.
LeBron James on Lakers’ poor shooting in loss to Warriors: “We’re getting great looks, but it could also be teams giving us great looks. To be completely honest, we’re not a team constructed of great shooting… It’s not like we’re sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team.” pic.twitter.com/VfqWnKcQ3D
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) October 19, 2022
“We’re getting great looks, but it could also be teams giving us great looks. To be completely honest, we’re not a team that’s constructed of great shooting. That’s just (what) the truth of the matter is. It’s not like we’re sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team… we’re not sitting here with a bunch of 40+ career three-point shooting guys”
In today’s NBA, teams try to drive their opponents off the three-point line, but in the case of the Lakers, they probably don’t mind letting them take more threes. LeBron says they don’t have a bunch of 40%+ career three-point shooters, but they actually don’t have many 35%+ ones either among the ones who will play significant minutes.
James for his career is at 34.6%, Anthony Davis is at 30.2%, Russell Westbrook is at 30.5%, and Lonnie Walker IV is at 34.2%. Patrick Beverley at 37.7% and Kendrick Nunn at 36.5% are two of the better ones, which isn’t good by any means. This isn’t how you construct a roster in the NBA today, especially when you have LeBron on the team. Richard Jefferson had previously roasted the Lakers roster by saying that Bronny James would be their second-best shooter and it doesn’t look like he was far off the mark.
