The Lakers vs. Celtics game didn’t have a happy ending for LA, as they fell to an 11-point loss in rough fashion at home. The game was closely contested in the first half, with a big call in at the end of it causing a swing. LeBron James impressively blocked Jayson Tatum, but the call was overturned by Scott Foster upon review.
While Foster overturned the call because of a foul by Taurean Prince, he commented on how impressive LeBron’s feat was.
“after review, it was a good block by lebron james…. HOWEVER” scott foster is such a troll lmaooo pic.twitter.com/bj2CLEjzLF
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) December 25, 2023
Foster doesn’t have many fans in the NBA community due to his rivalry with Chris Paul, but moments like this go a long way in making fans respect his sense of humor. Laker fans got coal delivered in their stocking when he said that, but 29 other fanbases at least chuckled at the way Foster decided to troll the fans.
Neither LeBron nor Tatum played a starring role in the game tonight. James struggled to score against a physical Celtics defense that zeroed in on him and held him to 16 points on 35.7% shooting. Tatum had a better night with 25 points but did struggle to score on James at times and ended the night on 40% shooting.
The biggest star for the Celtics offensively was Kristaps Porzingis, with crucial contributions from everyone else like Derrick White and Jrue Holiday leading them to the win. The aggressive defense on LeBron allowed Anthony Davis to go off for 40 points, but it wasn’t enough to help the Lakers win.
LeBron James Doesn’t Think The Lakers Are Contenders Right Now
The loss tonight means the Lakers have gone a pitiful 2-6 in their last eight games, a worrying sign for a team that wants to contend. The team is relatively healthy and should be finding their stride after 30 games as a veteran group. Instead, it looks like they’ve been regressing.
LeBron James is aware that this team doesn’t look like contenders right now, saying they still haven’t reached where they want to be before vowing to be better.
“I think the league’s best teams so far. Minnesota, they’re pretty much healthy. OKC, they’re pretty much healthy besides Giddey. Boston, they’re fully healthy. I don’t think we’re healthy right now. I don’t think we’re where we wanna be to be able to compete against the top teams until we continue on getting better and better… We will be better.”
There’s no magic bullet for the Lakers this season like they had one last year. When they started the season out slow, everyone knew that the eventual Russell Westbrook trade would lead to success for LA. That was true, as they went from out of the top-10 to the Western Conference Finals in just a few months. There is no obvious trade like that this season.
The Lakers will be heavily engaged in the market to see what they can get, but it’ll come with a careful cost-benefit analysis. Improving the roster they have right now by unlocking things through schemes and plays may be a better route for success, as a major trade could upset the balance of the roster and lead to more disappointment.
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