Despite Wednesday’s victory against the Spurs, the Lakers have been facing growing concern in the past week, as they suffered three-straight defeats at the hands of teams like Phoenix and Orlando. Analysing each loss, there was a common denominator between them, in which they played poorly entering the second half.
This is why LeBron James couldn’t hide his frustration after falling to the Suns, and even delivered a clear message to his own teammates. His message came as the purple and gold squad were not executing on both ends of the floor, plus the lack of contributions from key players.
“We’re not very good defensively or offensively the last couple of games, especially in the third quarter,” the superstar said, shining a light on a conflicting trend, in which not even his own leadership has been able to shift the team’s mindset entering the second half of their games.
Lakers player grades: Another bad third quarter, another loss https://t.co/oH7iyWEGN1 pic.twitter.com/zmqfcMFwRP
— LeBron Wire (@LeBron_Wire) November 28, 2024
Against the Arizona squad, for example, the Los Angeles squad was only able to win the second quarter, but then faltered again in the third, losing 18 to 36. Despite the hard stretch of defeats, James continued to show his optimism about the Lakers’ chances this campaign.
“You never get frustrated with the process. We understand it’s not going to happen overnight,” he expressed, knowing that improving takes time. After 18 contests so far, the purple and gold are fifth in the Western Conference standings with a 11-7 record.
Their head coach, on the other hand, was a lot harsher than LeBron when addressing the player’s struggles. “We don’t have a lot of guys who can pick up full court,” said JJ Redick, suggesting the his squad might need to adjust their defensive strategy.
Teammate Anthony Davis considered a different solution to his squad’s woes, shining a light on the importance of getting back to the middle of the defensive rankings. “Just getting to the middle of the pack defensively can do a lot for us,” the big man said.
Despite LeBron’s justifications, one of his ex-Cavs teammates believes that the superstar is at the root of many of the Lakers problems
Despite James saying that the entire team needs to improve, some believe that the all-time best NBA scorer is the main problem. For example, his former Cleveland teammate Kendrick Perkins didn’t hold back in criticism after L.A. fell to Phoenix on Tuesday evening.
“Bron was horrible tonight defensively,” Perkins wrote on his personal X account about the 39-year-old, with whom he played together during the 2014-15 season and then again in 2018. “And his body language was unacceptable.”
Kendrick’s perspective is easy to understand, as James played a total of 34 minutes and didn’t produce a single block or steal. However, the power forward did contribute with seven defensive rebounds, in spite of his poor overall defensive impact.
Besides LeBron, other teammates also suffered the wrath of Perkins, who was disappointed in the Lakers’ overall display. “D’Angelo Russell be trippen. Some of the things he does on the court makes my damn skin crawl,” he assured. “Perimeter play will always be the issue for the Lakers on both ends of the floor.”
