LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers
Getty
LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers
The spot of NBA schedule that follows the All-Star break can be a frustrating one for teams because, no matter how you’ve played in the recent past, the stark realization hits that there is not much time left in the season. Mid-April will arrive fast, and with it, the playoffs. That makes every game teams play swell up in importance, as the Lakers saw on Sunday in a blowout loss to the Celtics on their home floor.
L.A. was awful in every facet when it came to shooting the ball. The Lakers were just 9-for-30 from the 3-point arc, and shot 39.1% from the field. Much was made about the Lakers’ difficulty playing against teams that use drop defenses, but coach JJ Redick said the main culprit in the team’s 89-point performance was simply not making shots.
“We did enough defensively,” Redick said. “We were just awful offensively tonight.”
Lakers, LeBron James Struggled With Celtics Defense
One of the offshoots of the deep drops that the Celtics ran defensively against the Lakers is that it tinkers with the way L.A. can operate and pass out of the pick-and-roll, and makes those plays more difficult. The Lakers have a difficult time passing in those situations, though they committed only eight turnovers. Still, they took too many long 2-pointers, going 2-for-10 on 2s from outside the paint.
The team needs time to get better chemistry, as the main trio of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James has only played less than a quarter of the season together because of a series of injuries, first to James, then to Reaves and most recently to Doncic.
James was only 9-for-21 shooting, with five assists.
LeBron James: ‘We Gotta Figure it Out’
They need to re-establish their connections. But James said it will go beyond just getting the Lakers stars on the same page, and wants to make sure Reaves and Doncic know it.
“What game is this for us this year? 13?” James said when talking with reporters after the game. “I don’t think we’re there right now, I think we got some games to be played. Obviously, it is the sprint for us now, we gotta figure it out.
“It’s not just me, AR and Luka. We got the ball in our hands the majority of times but we’ve got to make sure we keep guys, other guys into it, in the flow. The offense is five guys, not just three or two or one. It has to be five guys and being able to play as one. We got a lot of room to grow. It ain’t just that, it ain’t just that.”
Lakers Under Fire From Legend
But again, time is short and overreaction will be plentiful. We saw that on Sunday after losing the the Celtics, when Lakers great James Worthy ripped into the team for their effort in the loss, despite the Lakers having played well (10 wins in 15 games) before that.
Worthy said on the Lakers postgame show: “No heart. Weak. And it’s post-All-Star. We talked about what they needed to do before All-Star and I think they didn’t achieve what they wanted to there. … Tonight, was weak. It’s the Boston Celtics without [Jayson] Tatum. You’re at home. You’re in fifth place, you’re trying to move up. You show, to me, no respect for the uniform. OK?
You can sniff out weakness. When you do that, you can just dominate. That’s what they did. They’ve got to decide who they want to be. Because right now, I don’t know.”