The Los Angeles Lakers had seemingly turned a corner this week. They responded from a halfhearted effort against the Portland Trail Blazers with gutsy and “resilient” overtime wins (without LeBron James) against the upstart Charlotte Hornets and contending Miami Heat.
On Friday, in a 107-83 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Staples Center, the Lakers — out of nowhere — took multiple steps backward.
The Lakers started Anthony Davis at center (Wayne Ellington replaced DeAndre Jordan). Los Angeles played well in the first half. They raced out to a 26-19 lead after the first quarter and held a 49-44 advantage at halftime.
Then, shockingly, things crumbled.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Lakers' alarmingly terrible early-season third-quarter track record. That issue subsided for a handful of games, but reared its ugly head on Friday, as it did in Portland.
“That's not just this third quarter, it's every third quarter we've played this season,” Davis said. “We come out slow, lackadaisical offensively and defensively. We got to get it together. Why? I can't tell you. But we got to do a better job.”
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Zo3P6h2IxQPod1w4DFTMP?si=6dfc211a9a37463b
“It's not always consistent,” Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said about their play out of the locker room. “Turnovers, poor defense, and not executing well enough offensively. Our screening was terrible tonight, and that leads us into bad possessions. It's just part of building those relationships and getting guys playing at a higher level.”
Los Angeles was outscored 40-12 in the third period. By any statistical measure or visual acuity, the Lakers, in Anthony Davis' words, “sucked.” They didn't box out, didn't move the ball, settled for jumpers, played without passion. They shot 4-of-21 from the field and 1-of-13 from 3.
“No defense. Can't score…We're not gonna win a championship the way that we're playing,” Davis added.
You can cite fatigue if you want. The Lakers are coming off consecutive overtime games and they have numerous rotation players on the injured list. They did appear to suddenly run out of steam.
On the other hand, the Lakers have played exactly one road game since Oct. 28, and it was in Portland. They weren't on a back-to-back. They have more than enough talent to beat a mediocre (at best) Timberwolves squad. I'm not sure they deserve that kind of pass. They certainly aren't letting it slide.
“We have to decide who we want to be,” Anthony Davis said. “We got to care more for our wins at home, wins in general. That was embarrassing, to be up five at half — obviously, this team shoots a lot of threes and they have guys who can score the basketball — but there was no effort in the third quarter. … Energy in the third quarter wasn't there for us.”
For the game, the Lakers shot 9-of-41 from 3 (following a sizzling performance vs. Miami) and 35.4% from the field. They were outscored 56-32 in the paint.
“No sense of urgency,” Wayne Ellington said about the team's third-quarter woes. “We come out slow.”
Sounds a lot like the Portland postgame remarks. And not a lot like progress.
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