It’s fair to say that things haven’t been particularly easy for Lakers fans this season. The same can be said for the Kings, too, who have been among the worst teams in the league.
But for a team like the Lakers, who have heightened expectations, everything is different. If the team fails to meet a certain standard of excellence, people will let them know about it.
For Russell Westbrook, he’s been at the center of hate and criticism from the NBA community, mostly for his inefficiency on the offensive end. Besides his tendency to turn the ball over and waste entire possessions, his shooting hasn’t been great (to say the least) and it has really limited what he’s been able to do on the floor.
After another loss on Wednesday, with Russ adding another game to his ugly shooting slump, many fans started panicking about the state of the team and Westbrook’s troubling performance.
LeBron James, however, did his best to calm things down.
“Just keep working. … He’s getting some really good looks, but they’re just not going down for him.”
LeBron on Russell Westbrook's shooting slump: "Just keep working. … He's getting some really good looks, but they're just not going down for him."
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) January 13, 2022
Russell Westbrook also responded to his super rough stretch.
“The word slump is not something I lean on. … I’ll figure it out and that’s that.”
Russell Westbrook on shooting slump: "The word slump is not something I lean on. … I'll figure it out and that's that."
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) January 13, 2022
It’s no surprise James is sticking up for his teammate here. He has never been known to throw his guys under the bus, and that’s not about to change.
In fact, he like throws praise his direction every chance he gets.
“I think he had an off-shooting night. He missed so many shots around the rim that he had been accustomed to making throughout his career and throughout the season, so not worried about too much of that,” said James after a late December loss.
“I think his decision-making was spectacular tonight. He had 11 assists, he had 12 rebounds, 5 of them offensive and we know we’re not one of the better offensive rebounding teams in this league. He gave us extra possessions, he just missed a lot of looks around the basket, which I know he can’t stand as well. As far as effort…the guy plays hard and the guy leaves it out on the floor.”
Sadly, the Lakers are going to need more than positive thinking from LeBron to turn things around.
So far, the team has been plagued with a number of issues and it’s going to be a big task for the Lakers to solve them all.
Of course, not having Anthony Davis certainly makes a difference and his absence is no doubt the reason for their slide. But even when Davis was healthy, the team wasn’t really where they needed to be.
Over the next few weeks, the Lakers will have to work hard to address their problems and come together to work out a solution.
