The Los Angeles Lakers fell to their worst loss of the season tonight, going down to the Minnesota Timberwolves 80-109 on the second night of a back-to-back. LeBron James had one of the worst offensive nights of recent memory with just 10 points (4-16 FG) as the Lakers scored just 80 as a team.
James was critical of the team’s offense in his post-game interview, hoping to address their shortcomings through film sessions as they did with their previously struggling defense.
“We’re just not good offensively right now. I think we spent so much time on trying to get our defense corrected that our offense just took a toll and took a back seat to that. We’re not good offensively right now… It’s everything. It’s not just one area, but definitely spacing, guys getting on top of each other. But it’s everything, not just one thing.”
“We gotta watch film and see where we can get better. We did that a lot when we wanted to get our defense corrected and we corrected it, so, gotta spend more time offensively too.”
James commented on his recent struggles as well.
“Work. That’s all… It’s everything, just not feeling the rhythm last few games.”
LeBron brought up the circumstances behind the loss against a competitive West franchise, but took another jab at the team’s offense while hoping to fix it in coming games.
“Tonight, it was difficult, coming off a back-to-back, where we played last night, going to the wire, flying to LA, getting to bed late, and then find the energy to play a team that’s been waiting on us. Like I said yesterday, we’re gonna get the Western Conference finalists the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight. I don’t put too much into this game, but our offense, we put a lot in that. Our offense is nasty right now, we gotta shore that up.”
LeBron James: "We're just not good offensively right now. I think we spent so much time on trying to get our defense corrected that our offense just took a toll and took a back seat to that."
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This loss dropped the Lakers to 12-9 on the season, as the franchise has now dropped to the No. 8 seed in the West. They need to arrest this freefall after losing to a Wolves squad who might have made the WCF last season but improved to 10-10 this year with this win. The Lakers had also beaten the Wolves on opening night, showing that tonight was a catastrophic result for the franchise.
The team shouldn’t dwell on the result itself but should be upset about failing to score more than 80 points in a game this early in the season. As James referred to as well, the team’s defense has improved in recent games and looked really competitive tonight, but the offense just couldn’t provide any support.
James is averaging 22.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 9.1 assists on the season and 16.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 8.7 assists over the last six games while shooting 39.8% from the field and 10.0% from three. Over the last six games, showing how much his consistency has declined to open the season.
Everyone knows he’s capable of turning it around, and the Lakers won’t get many more 12-point performances from Anthony Davis either, so this loss might just mark a point where it can’t get any worse for LA.
It’s a long season, and the Lakers have to maximize wins in their upcoming games against below .500 franchises like the Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, two games against the Sacramento Kings, and then against the Detroit Pistons before a Christmas Day clash against the Golden State Warriors.
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