The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a disappointing loss on Sunday night, falling to the Sacramento Kings in overtime to drop to 1-2 on the season.
The Lakers are a team with championship aspirations this season but so far haven’t looked like it, also losing to the Denver Nuggets on Opening Night and barely beating a Phoenix Suns team who were missing two stars in Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
With some new pieces added to the roster it’s understandable for L.A. to come out of the gates slow, needing time to gel and figure out each other’s tendencies. The Lakers have shot just 44.1% from the field and 29.1% from 3-point range as a team though, seemingly lacking a rhythm on the offensive end of the floor.
Anthony Davis, who is coming off back-to-back 30-point efforts, discussed the Lakers’ lack of rhythm and explained why he’s not concerned, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I think we’re in a good rhythm collectively for the most part of the game. We have our moments where we look off, but I think for the most part, I think we look fine. Guys are reading each other on the floor, we’re in constant communication with what we want on the floor, what we see. Guys are talking to each other from the bench, letting guys know what we see. So I don’t think that’s much of an issue. I think it’s just a rhythm thing for some guys. Gabe has been out, trying to get back. He’s our point guard in the second unit so his shot is still trying to find its legs. Everybody, Austin is trying to find his shot, Rui is trying to find himself, Cam [Reddish]. It will come. We just got to continue to fight like we did tonight. Obviously we wanted to win, but got another one tomorrow. So just put it all together, keep pushing and it will turn for us.”
The Lakers’ backcourt, in particular, has really struggled offensively as the trio of Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Gabe Vincent is shooting just 33.7% from the field and 17.5% from 3-point range.
There’s no way that is sustainable so it’s understandable why Davis isn’t worried, although it’s clear the Lakers still have work to do to build continuity to be able to match up with some of the better teams in the league like the Kings and Nuggets.
Darvin Ham sorting through Lakers rotations
While guys need to knock down open shots, one other thing that can help the Lakers is better lineup construction. That is something that head coach Darvin Ham recognizes as he said after the Kings loss that he will dig into the film to figure out better rotations moving forward.
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