With Anthony Davis out for Game 5, head coach Frank Vogel opted to start veteran Markieff Morris in his place. Morris had thrived as a starter in Davis’ absence earlier this season and he did hit the first three of the game.
Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Lakers, things went downhill from there and what resulted was their worst loss of the season in Game 5 to the Phoenix Suns.
Now on the brink of elimination, the team must turn around and be ready to go for Game 6 or their season will end in major disappointment. In order for that to happen, everyone will need to step up and many eyes will be on Dennis Schroder, who went scoreless in the Game 5 defeat.
Schroder understands this and admitted that he needs to be better next game, and plans on pushing his Game 5 performance out of his mind. “I’ve got to do better for sure,” Schroder said after the loss. “That’s not even a question. Like I said, I don’t even know if I’m watching film on that one. We got to flush that one. Stay positive and I’m going to be better Game 6. I think everybody can do better, but it starts with me for sure.
“AD was out. It starts with me being aggressive and helping LeBron [James] and all these other guys to put pressure on the rim. It starts with me for sure.”
But Morris disagrees with the idea of the Lakers skipping the film of their Game 5, believing they need to embrace it and recognize how badly they played.
“No, I think we got to watch the tape because the tape doesn’t lie,” Morris said. It’s gonna show our sense of urgency, our lack of not caring, our lacking of fighting and I think we need to show that just to know like next game if we play like this, this shit is over. All we worked for, all we been through all year, is over.
“So I think we have to just to put in our head that this is it. If we lose another, there’s no more talking about what we could’ve did, what we should’ve done. This is it.”
Morris is one of the veteran voices on this team that everyone listens to and his point is a sound one. The Lakers must recognize how terribly they played and realize that if they have another performance like that, their season will be over.
Kuzma says Lakers didn’t show ‘any heart’ in loss
The Lakers as a team seem to recognize just how awful they played and didn’t hold back on themselves. Kyle Kuzma has been honest about the team all season and it was no different after this game.
“Just tough, I think we just didn’t show up with any heart,” Kuzma said after the loss. “They were obviously the aggressors, did whatever they want offensively, punked us defensively and we got disrespected out there. So we got to strap it up in Game 6.”
In terms of what the Lakers can do to turn it around in the next game, Kuzma’s answer was simple.
“Man, we just got to be men, we got to strap this s*** up. We got to play with heart, play like we want to win.”
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