The Los Angeles Lakers dropped their fourth consecutive game on Thursday night, falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-111. With LeBron James sitting out, Anthony Davis did his best to lead the team and the Lakers were competitive all night, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Minnesota, who has the best record in the Western Conference.
The Lakers now find themselves at a low point this season, falling to 1-5 since winning the NBA In-Season Tournament. Injuries have caused rotations and lineups to fluctuate and the Lakers simply haven’t been able to get in a good rhythm.
Davis felt like the Lakers played hard in Minnesota, but the win still didn’t come. After the game, the Lakers big man didn’t care to take any moral victories for their efforts, simply saying the Lakers need to figure out how to get back in the win column, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I think the effort was there. It sucks to lose, obviously, four in a row. It’s tough. You want to get back in the win column. Obviously we were missing some players… But I think overall our effort was there tonight. We played like we were trying to win. We played a little more together, a little more confident. But it sucks to lose. No moral victories, no one is gonna feel sorry for us, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves. We just got to figure it out.”
Being on the road against the team with the best record in the West, on a second night of a back-to-back, and with James sitting out, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Lakers. The effort was admirable, but right now in the midst of this slump, moral victories aren’t enough; the team needs actual wins.
Davis believes their last game of the road trip in Oklahoma City is one they have to win:
“It’s the NBA season. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. Right now we’re in that down period with losing four in a row. So obviously we know the team we can be. We just haven’t had that experience from last year being counted out and then going to the conference finals. We just got to get back to winning. It’s that simple. But obviously in an NBA season there’s gonna be some ups and downs. We just got to continue to fight and continue to play hard. Play with some effort, some energy and we’re treating Saturday as a must-win.”
The Thunder are a quality opponent, with the second-best record in the Western Conference and one of the top players in the NBA in guard Shai Gilgious-Alexander. But Davis is right, the Lakers must treat this game with the utmost urgency and get a win before coming home for that Christmas Day showdown with the Boston Celtics.
Anthony Davis: Nno help coming’ to solve Lakers issues
Many are pointing towards the front office needing to make a trade to help the team solve their current issues, but Davis isn’t focused on that.
The star big man said that there is ‘no help coming’ and those within the Lakers’ locker room must figure out how to turn this around and string some wins together.
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