The month of December has been a challenging one for the Los Angeles Lakers as it’s been filled with plenty of road games, plus a trip to Las Vegas for the In-Season Tournament semifinals and championship games.
L.A. has a total of eight road games this month in addition to the two games in Vegas, so the team has spent a lot of time away from Crypto.com Arena. Despite winning the tournament, the Lakers have had to battle the injury bug seemingly all year long and constant travel is not helping that.
Friday featured a shorthanded, but disappointing loss to the San Antonio Spurs to end a three-game road trip in Texas. Max Christie talked about the mental and physical toll the consistent travel has had on the team, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yeah, both. For sure. I think we’ve been on the road for a long time. We were in Vegas for four days, went back home for a day and then flew right back out. We’ve been in Texas for another four days it feels like so we got a little bit of a tough stretch ahead of us. We got back home for three days and then we’re on the road again, then you got a back-to-back in Chicago and Minnesota and then OKC and then Boston for Christmas. We got a tough stretch to end the month so we just got to push through it and dig our heels into the ground and come together as a team to win as many games as we can.”
Despite some adversity, Christie admits that the team has to finish the year strong despite the circumstances:
“Absolutely. January is an [easier] month so we just got to dig in and finish this month, this year if you will, going into 2024 finishing strong and getting as many wins as we can. It’s a tough schedule but that’s just the nature of the NBA, 82 games is a long season. I think we’re in one of those stretch where it feels like it’s wearing on us a little. But we’re an experienced and deep team so all we got to do is dig our heels into the ground and win some games.”
The Lakers have three more home games for the rest of December, one of them being Monday against the New York Knicks. However, it has been a challenging and draining month for the team and they’re almost at the end of the tunnel.
Christie is aware that the team has to push through a couple more weeks to an easier schedule in January. But with all that considered, to be above .500 is a blessing with the cards that have been dealt to L.A.
Anthony Davis reaction to Lakers raising In-Season Tournament banner
As mentioned, the Lakers come home Monday to take on the Knicks to celebrate their In-Season Tournament championship. It was announced that the team will hang a banner to commemorate their accomplishment and Anthony Davis is in favor of the Lakers celebrating.
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