Throughout the month of December the Los Angeles Lakers had some built-in excuses for their struggles due to an extreme road-heavy schedule and injuries permeating on the roster.
January was supposed to alleviate some of that, especially the travel schedule, and yet despite another outstanding Anthony Davis performance, the Lakers fell to the Miami Heat, who did not have Jimmy Butler available.
Davis finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and five blocks, but the Lakers as a team shot just 42.2 percent from the field and an abysmal 13.3 percent from 3-point range in their 14-point loss.
The Lakers now find themselves under .500 and barely hanging on to a spot in the Play-In Tournament and Davis feels the team can’t offer any excuses.
“Whatever it takes to win,” Davis responded when asked about the message in the Lakers’ locker room. “Every game for us, especially on this homestand, should feel like a must-win for us to get back into the win column and then just build off of it.
“Nothing is going to be easy for us. We got a couple great teams coming up, so we got to figure it out. Especially on the defensive end with our attention to detail, guys locking in on the film, and our personnel, and what to do in coverages. It seems like there’s been a lot of slippage in those areas of focus and it’s reflecting on the floor.”
The Lakers’ defense has been nowhere near the level it needs to be and the offense has been even worse. The team must figure out how to turn things around as Davis feels the team is lacking in both effort and execution.
“It’s a little bit of everything right now. We’re not executing,” he added. “That team played harder than us tonight, executed better than us tonight, more physical than us tonight. We got outworked tonight. So it’s a bit of everything right now.
“If we keep on this trend, it’s not going to be good for us. So it’s kind of obvious that we have to figure it out sooner than later. Guys being out is not an excuse. There are no excuses for us.”
The Lakers have talent on their roster to perform far better than what they have shown so far this season. Davis believes some players are discouraged by their offensive struggles, but feels everyone must find another area where they can make an impact when they aren’t making shots.
“Competing. Each possession,” Davis said when asked what the Lakers can do to turn things around. “Obviously shot-making will help. But when shots are not falling, I think we’re on guys a little bit when their shots aren’t falling and that kind of messes with guys and it kind of carries over to the next play, whether it’s offense or defense. So that will help but we just got to go out and compete, no matter what.
“Leave it all out on the floor. Do the little things that kind of get you going […] I think there are little things that will help us kind of get back into a rhythm offensively with our shot-making but also just kind of give us a little energy on the defensive end. Right now we’re not doing anything on both ends.”
‘Deepening disconnect’ between Lakers players and Darvin Ham?
As is always the case when a team is struggling like the Lakers are, rumors are beginning to circulate and a recent one calls into question the standing of head coach Darvin Ham.
A recent report suggests a ‘deepening disconnect’ between the players and Ham, stemming largely from constant rotation and lineup changes that are hurting players’ ability to get in a rhythm.
If things don’t turn around soon, Ham’s job security could be in danger.
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