The Los Angeles Lakers lost 106-100 to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, falling to 1-3 on their road trip and 9-10 on the 2021-22 NBA season. Despite the fact that LeBron James was suspended, Anthony Davis had a fever, and Russell Westbrook (31 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists) was mostly really good — all legit silver linings or excuses — there are still a few reasons to be concerned about the state of the Lakers, at this moment in time. (Then again, when are we not?)
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1) Early deficits
In a shocker, the Lakers came out flat and trailed by double-digits. This has been a consistent and inexplicable theme for them this season — especially considering they have no reason to be complacent. By their own admission (and their results), they haven't figured anything out and have much to prove as a collective.
“We can't just turn it off and on. We're not good enough … yet,” Avery Bradley said.
The Lakers trailed by 25 points in this game. As StatMuse pointed out, they've trailed by at least 25 points in a third of their games this season. Even in their potentially season-altering (on second thought…) win against the Detroit Pistons, they were horrific for three quarters before erasing a 17-point deficit in the second half.
“We're having too many breakdowns, especially early in the game,” Vogel said. “I thought, defensively, especially in the second half, we competed our tails off.”
The Lakers outscored the Knicks by 6 points in the second half after trailing by 12 at the break.
“A hell of a fight by our guys to fight back in, compete the way they did,” Vogel added. “They’re competing their tails off to get Ws and just falling short. But we have to have a better start the last two games. We’re playing uphill and it makes things difficult.”
Showing fight is progress. But the comeback can sap all your energy. The Lakers are not going to win a lot of games when they trail by significant deficits.
“We weren’t playing hard enough: Simple,” Westbrook said, noting the Lakers fell behind 10-0. “When we decided to play harder, you saw the significant difference.”
This can't just be DeAndre Jordan's fault.
2) THT's disappearance
What a strange nine days for Talen Horton-Tucker.
The 20-year old caused everybody to reconsider his ceiling with eye-opening performances upon returning from thumb surgery. In three starts (without LeBron), THT averaged 23.3 points on 40% from deep in games against the San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, and Milwaukee Bucks. His bag looked as impressive as ever, and his defense, energy, and jumper were equally promising.
It's been a different story since LeBron (temporarily) returned. THT struggled mightily against the Boston Celtics (0-for-6, 2 points), Detroit Pistons (4-of-13), and Knicks (0-8, scoreless). Over those three games, Horton-Tucker has looked lost, schematically, on both ends. He's 4-of-27 from the field and 0-of-5 from distance.
Anthony Davis said he talked to Horton-Tucker before his postgame remarks to provide some encouraging counsel and advise him to focus on the “little things.” Smart.
It's worth noting that THT grabbed at his surgically repaired thumb in the Bucks game.
3) Cold shooting
As they head East, in late November the Lakers have gone cold.
In New York, they shot 37.4%, and 30.6% from three. In the fourth quarter, they made 2-of-11 from deep.
The Lakers acquired five players (Carmelo, Malik Monk, Kent Bazemore, Kendrick Nunn, Wayne Ellington) who shot over 40% from three last season. At the moment, Bazemore has played his way out of the rotation, Ellington (33.3%) is heading there, Monk has been painfully inconsistent, and Nunn (knee) has yet to debut.
Only Anthony has kept up his accurate sniping, and he was 2-of-8 from downtown in his return to the Garden.
As expected, the Lakers perimeter defense is a crippling weakness that trickles into every other aspect of the game: paint defense, transition, momentum, and more. They knowingly sacrificed that for three-point shooting. The trade-off was justifiable at first, as the Lakers were sixth in three-point percentage heading into last week's Bulls game. After four frigid showings in five games, they're middle of a road — in more ways than one.
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