In yet another disappointing outcome, the Los Angeles Lakers were unable to come out with a win against the lowly Sacramento Kings in a triple-overtime loss on Friday night.
The Kings were shorthanded as they were without Harrison Barnes and Richaun Holmes and lost Maurice Harkless during the game, yet the Lakers seemingly ran out of gas as the night continued with each overtime period. With another bad loss on the books, there are definitely more questions than answers this team faces in the short term.
To say this game was a letdown for L.A. is an understatement and Anthony Davis looked upset when talking about the outcome.
“We’re very frustrated,” Davis said. “Wanted to come home and win games, that was the first game after the long road trip. But that’s a game we definitely could’ve won. We made some mistakes, granted they hit some tough shots so credit to them down the stretch. They hit some tough shots, but it’s a game that we had control of in the fourth and let it get away. And then overtimes did enough, and then once again they made some tough shots, made some big plays.
“It was one that we kind of wanted to win to keep this streak going. We got a nice little schedule and this is a time where we can’t keep saying ‘short season, short season.’ We got to be able to win basketball games and put a string of wins together in a row.”
Shot selection was an issue for the Lakers as they settled for jumper after jumper late in the game and Davis attributed it to clock management and simply missing shots.
“We were playing to the clock a lot. I feel like we were playing against the clock and anytime anyone caught the ball, they were playing against the clock and we didn’t have any time to get into some actions. We were kind of doing some things that worked, pick-and-rolls with me and Russ, pick-and-rolls with me and Bron, Melo had some good looks that he missed. Just missed shots towards the end.”
As far as what they can do to right the ship, Davis emphasized defense and getting better looks. “Stops. Shot quality. Letting them get offensive rebounds. They had 16 offensive rebounds. I think our shot quality towards the end of the games, we just got to be able to get good looks. But I’m not worried about the offense. I think defensively, we got to do better.
“Just the little things, the effort plays that help us get over the hump. We just got to keep stay together like [Russell Westbrook] said. We got to keep fighting.”
Davis and the Lakers are in an absolute funk in all facets of the game and it is hard to tell when things will get better even with another matchup against the Detroit Pistons coming up.
Davis explains why each game feels like a grind
The Lakers have seemingly made every game harder than it needs to be and Davis explained that each team they play is going to give them their best shot.
“We’re the Lakers, so any team we play, it’s gonna be a grind. Every team wants to beat the Lakers with AD, Bron, Russ and Melo. It’s evident that anytime we play a team and the guys who are struggling from three or struggling from the field or whatever, have great games against us. So we got to know that going in.”
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