With a bundle of embarrassing losses already on their record, the Los Angeles Lakers may have finally hit rock bottom after getting embarrassed by the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night.
The game started out close with both teams playing solid defense, but things quickly got away from the Lakers as they committed turnover after turnover. At the end of the first half, Los Angeles had committed 16 turnovers, which went for 17 New Orleans points.
The Pelicans looked like a team that knew exactly how to pick apart the Lakers on both ends and LeBron James admitted they could not figure out any solutions.
“I don’t have an answer for tonight,” James said. “If we’re talking about the future, that’s for us all to figure out. You don’t know what can happen in the next few weeks, but tonight from the six-minute point in the second quarter through the third, no answers. That team has been playing well. They went into Phoenix, beat them, and obviously beat the doors off us today. Mostly in that third quarter, I don’t have too many answers.”
As far as the turnovers go, James and Russell Westbrook each recorded seven and the former acknowledged that the Lakers can not win with him playing like that.
“I’m always trying to figure out ways I can be better, for sure. Obviously seven turnovers is not an ingredient for winning basketball for myself. So I hold myself accountable for that. I;m always trying to figure out ways I can be better out on the floor both offensively and defensively. That’s just my mindset I always have throughout every year of my career, ways that I can be better no matter if we’re winning or losing. I always just try to figure that part out.”
Los Angeles would turn the basketball over seven more times in the second half, but at that point, it did not do much to change the end result as New Orleans built a commanding 32-point lead and never looked back. To his credit, James tried to spark some sort of run in the fourth quarter, but that was squashed almost immediately after the Pelicans made a few baskets to put the game away for good.
It is no secret that the margin of error for this L.A. squad is slim, but to see them get blown out after a close loss to the Los Angeles Clippers is a discouraging sign. There is mathematically almost no shot they climb into the top-6 in the Western Conference and it is fair to wonder whether or not they can make it out of the Play-In Tournament.
James say knee issue isn’t affecting his play
James has been dealing with a knee issue as of late that he believes will continue to bother him through the end of the season. Despite that though, he’s not using it as an excuse for his poor play.
“I played pretty bad tonight. I had some horrible turnovers. Probably about four of them were pretty bad. The other three were just bad connections. I could’ve been a lot better for sure. I don’t think it’s [the injury] affecting my play.”
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