This is the last extended time away from home for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers as they are halfway through a six-game East Coast road trip.
L.A. got off to a great start beating the Milwaukee Bucks and the Memphis Grizzlies as they look to climb up to the No. 8 seed.
After the first two wins, the purple and gold had a rematch with the Indiana Pacers on Friday, arguably the last challenging game on this road swing. However, the Lakers shot the ball super poorly and were unable to get stops against a great Indiana offense.
Despite a letdown performance, it was bound to happen after playing three games in four nights. Thankfully, the final three matchups on this roadie feature teams below .500, but James does not want to overlook their opponents, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“That right there is not the thinking. That can’t be the thinking, saying we’re playing against all under .500 teams. Because that will get you burnt every time. We got to play our game, we got to understand that Brooklyn beat us last time when we played them in L.A. so we look forward to that challenge. They got some guys that can beat you, Cam Thomas, [Dennis Schroder] is on the squad as well, so you know they’re always looking forward to playing us, Mikal Bridges and all those guys are pros just like we are so we better be ready for that game on Sunday.”
The four-time champion is not wrong as the Lakers have lost to rebuilding teams this season, Nets included as they embarrassed L.A. at Crypto.com Arena in January. Especially at this time of year, teams eliminated from the postseason look to spoil the hopes of those looking to make it in.
While the purple and gold cannot overlook their competition, there is little room for error right now and finishing this road trip 5-1 would be tremendous for the team heading down this final stretch of the regular season.
LeBron James: missed 3-pointers & careless turnovers cost Lakers against Pacers
After some impressive offensive showcases since the All-Star break for the Lakers, an offensive letdown was expected at some point. Outside shooting has been a strong suit, but in Indiana, the team shot 5-for-30 from distance and James believes that being unable to make 3s consistently and careless turnovers were the main factors in the Lakers’ loss to the Pacers.
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