LeBron James was not happy after the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in a sloppy, turnover-laden outing. He was somber and frustrated in his postgame press conference.
However, he still found a way to flex his renowned photographic memory.
James turned the ball over five times in the first half. The Lakers coughed it up 22 times overall, leading to 27 points for the Grizzlies. James and Frank Vogel cited carelessness as the primary reason for the Lakers' latest step-back (though inconsistent and subpar effort was detrimental, too).
In his postgame remarks, LeBron rapidly recounted each turnover he committed and noted that he cleaned up his act after halftime.
“Two of my turnovers were passes that I make all throughout the year: over-the-top passes, one to AD threw it short. One was to Melo, threw it short. Tried two cross-court passes to my shooters, got deflected. Then one of them was a swing pass to Russ that got picked off, a pick-six. All of them controlled, all of them terrible. All in the first half, and I knew that. I had zero in the second half, so I made that adjustment.”
James correctly pointed out that the Lakers had been far more responsible with the ball over the past seven games after struggling with the issue early in the season.
“Tonight, turnovers killed us,” he said. “We’ve been doing a hell of a job over the last seven games averaging only 12.5 turnovers, but tonight we had 22 for 27 points. That’s been our Achilles heel before the last seven games and tonight it bit us in the bud.” (The Lakers actually averaged 14.0 turnovers over that span, but his point holds true.)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4eyMtHUETPlGtzzbISEXc8?si=0ced4635c8124f75
A few minutes later, LeBron perfectly recalled the final sequence of the first quarter, when the Lakers came up short on a 50/50 ball and surrendered two offensive rebounds and a three-pointer, shrinking their lead to four going into the second period. The Lakers' quality of play waned from there.
Evidently, even a sullen King has an unmatched recollection when it comes to basketball.
In other news, James became the fifth player in NBA history to record 100 career regular-season triple-doubles on Thursday, after tallying 20 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes. It was his first triple-double of the 2021-22 season. He made no mention of it afterward. I doubt he forgot, though.
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