The Los Angeles Lakers, playing without LeBron James, were blown out by a, well, blazing Portland Trail Blazers team, 127-115, on Monday at the Moda Center.
The Lakers' noncompetitive and seemingly nondescript effort spotlighted a few lingering issues plaguing the team as the All-Star break approaches. And no, I don't mean Anthony Davis' offensive malaise…yet.
Shooting
Besides LeBron's absence, three-point shooting was the difference. Damian Lillard shot 8-of-12 from deep in the first half, Portland made 23-of-47 attempts — many of which were quality looks, despite the analytics.
The fact that almost all of Dame's 8 1st-half 3s were contested/tough must've skewed the data here. The rest of Portland's 3s came off pretty good looks… https://t.co/pp8JiC69EC
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) February 14, 2023
Until Malik Beasley shot 5-of-8 in garbage time, he and D'Angelo Russell — the two best shooters the team acquired at the trade deadline — had made 3-of-21 from downtown since joining the Lakers.
Los Angeles ranks 30th in three-point attempts per game and 26th in percentage. Those numbers should tick up as the new guys find a groove. Meanwhile, the Lakers rank 20th in threes allowed per game. That's not terrible, but, what LeBron said about their margin for error — or lack thereof — remains applicable post-deadline.
The Lakers are going to be a below-average sniping squad. They have to, at the very least, defend the long ball better than they did on Monday.
LeBron's foot
The 20-year-veteran hasn't played since sitting out crunch-time to massage his foot on the night he broke the NBA's all-time scoring record. Ham and Rob Pelinka said the MRI he received last week came back “clean” and the issue is wear-and-tear, but the injury is undeniably worrisome.
LeBron's knee soreness that lingered throughout the second half of 2021-22 and caused him to miss numerous games was not the result of a specific incident. He just woke up one morning and it was swollen. This foot soreness, which has lasted for weeks and only seems to be getting worse, is of a similar vein.
When folks envision a Lakers playoff push, it's based on the notion that, with a healthy LeBron and AD, they can beat any team in the league. That's true — but a deep run would require both those guys to be available and dominant through weeks of high-leverage, heavy-minute, grueling playoff basketball into June. It's only February.
Time
The Lakers need LeBron on the floor as soon as possible and as much as possible to have a chance at that playoff run. As exciting as the deadline was, the new-look Lakers have 24 games to hone a rotation, develop cohesion, and win enough games — probably 15, at a minimum — to make the play-in. A tall task.
“Obviously it’s our second game together,” AD said post-Blazers loss. “Still trying to figure it out.”
"We definitely have to win more games than we lose for sure." @AntDavis23 gives his perspective on the # Lakers' future and team cohesiveness. pic.twitter.com/tev5w12NDm
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) February 14, 2023
“It’s a complete new team. A complete new everything,” added D'Angelo Russell. “So on a scale of 1-10, I’m a one right now. … Knowing that we have every excuse in the world to use, are we going to use it or are we going to just kind of go out there and try to make something happen? … It’s not going to happen right away. … Laker fans … they want it to happen right away. Just like any other team, you got to build.”
Entering Tuesday, Los Angeles sits 2.5 games out of the final play-in spot and doesn't own the tiebreaker over multiple teams above them (including Portland). At some point, time is going to run out and LeBron will have to consider shutting it down.
The good news? If things don't coalesce in time for the 2023 playoffs, the organization's “pre-agency” approach to the deadline puts them in a position to run back this roster next season and beyond. The bad news? LeBron will be one year older.
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