The Los Angeles Lakers have crashed back down to earth following their NBA In-Season Tournament championship as they’ve lost five out of their last six games and four straight.
Their most recent loss came at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves as they fell 118-111. The Lakers were shorthanded as LeBron James sat out due to an ankle injury, but the team surprisingly put up a valiant effort.
Even without James, Los Angeles was able to hang around for most of the night as everyone on the team stepped up. Anthony Davis led all scorers with 31 points while Austin Reaves pitched in with 20 points off the bench.
Darvin Ham admitted it was hard to lose another game, but was happy with what he saw from his players via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I definitely thought we played with more energy and effort,” Ham said. “Guys were locking in trying to defend. That’s a tough matchup for anybody in the league, thus their record and where they’re sitting right now on the West and as a whole in the NBA. They got a lot of savvy vets over there and some really exciting young players so for us to be down a few men, definitely happy about the effort I saw.
“Always disappointed to lose, never want to get into the routine of being comfortable and getting accustomed to losing, but again, it’s wisdom and lessons. You got to find the lessons in everything and the lesson tonight was just to put force and effort, play together, trust each other, not just ourselves, and good things will happen. We came up a little short but some of the things I saw out there tonight were really, really good.”
It was an admirable performance from Los Angeles, who looked listless in stretches in their loss to the Chicago Bulls the night before. They played better than expected with James sitting out, though the team probably doesn’t care for moral victories.
The upcoming schedule doesn’t let up, and L.A.’s skid could continue if they don’t shape up.
LeBron James says Lakers’ level of play must improve during tough schedule
With games against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics next on the slate, the Lakers are in serious danger of falling below .500. Oklahoma City and Boston look like title contenders, while Los Angeles is searching for the gear they hit in the IST.
James has been doing his best to keep the team afloat, but emphasized that the Lakers’ level of play must improve.
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