There was no reason for LeBron James to sugarcoat the inarguable truth: The Los Angeles Lakers — losers of 10 of their last 13 games, including four in a row — are a bad basketball team.
“We just suck right now,” LeBron stated following another dispiriting loss — 127-113, to the Memphis Grizzlies.
LeBron finished with 32 points (11-of-24 shooting), five rebounds, seven assists, and five steals in 39 minutes, though his fourth quarter was marred by missed free throws and carelessness. The Lakers — arguably the best crunch-time team in basketball early in the season — entered the fourth quarter tied at 94 with the Grizzlies, only to get outscored 33-19 in the period.
Anthony Davis had 31 points on 13-for-22 shooting, while Austin Reaves added 19 points, seven rebounds, and 12 assists. Memphis — who entered Friday ranked last in the NBA in 3-point percentage, poured in 23 triples on 45 attempts, taking advantage of the Lakers' tendency to close in on dribble drives. Marcus Smart, who began the day shooting 26.3%, shot 9-of-14 from deep. Jaren Jackson Jr. — 33.3% on the season — went 5-for-6.
“We gotta do better as players to affect them and miss shots,” said Reaves.
The Lakers, who self-imposed pressure to turn things around this month following a grueling, travel-heavy December, have dropped their two home games in the new year — to the Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat and the 12-23 Grizzlies — by 14 points each.
“It's been a tough stretch for us,” said AD. “We're trending in the wrong direction right now. The last thing we need … is to separate and fall apart. We gotta stay together for sure. Figure it out. We can't be in our feelings. We can't be complaining. We can't take anything personal. We have to look individually, myself, everyone in the locker room, the coaching staff, look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we can do individually better to help the team be better.”
The Lakers' swoon has ratcheted up the heat on Darvin Ham. On Friday, the second-year head coach used his pregame press conference to forcibly refute reports related to his job security that painted the picture of a locker room growing increasingly discontent (curiously, Ham compared unnamed sources to witnesses who testify against the Mafia, citing a 60 Minutes episode he remembers from childhood). Ham insisted he has the support of Lakers brass — though that was before another loss capped by boos from the exiting crowd.
Any confidence the Lakers established by winning the In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas has utterly waned. Even LeBron downplayed the significance of the IST victory following Friday's failure.
“That was just two games. It's a small sample. Everyone is getting so cracked up about Vegas, and keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games.” (But the banner hangs forever!)
Postgame, a defiant but frustrated Ham questioned external scrutiny on individual games — a sentiment that won't go over swimmingly with the franchise's obsessive fanbase.
“I'm tired of people living and dying with every single game we play. It's ludicrous, actually. … This is a marathon. And we hit a tough stretch.”
Contrary to LeBron's IST dismissiveness, Ham pointed out the Lakers have “the same team” that “played some high-level games a little while ago, and we just got to get back to that.”
“We got to keep the fight going. We cannot lose our fight.”
So, the Lakers (17-19) will hope to stop their skid against a scorching Los Angeles Clippers group on Sunday. If you recall, the Clippers had won 11 straight meetings before the Lakers' wild overtime triumph way back on Nov. 1.
Of course, the Clippers looked a lot different back then, before the James Harden trade. The Lakers did, too: They resembled a competent NBA team.
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