The losing ways are still haunting the Los Angeles Lakers as they haven’t been able to get out of their way in recent weeks.
Heading into a five-game homestand after seemingly always being on the road in December, the Lakers’ problems have carried over into 2024. L.A. has lost the first two games of their homestand to the Miami Heat and most recently the Miami Grizzlies in deflating fashion.
Now 2-8 in their last 10 games and riding a four-game losing streak, the purple and gold find themselves out of the Play-In Tournament, sitting at the 11th seed. While there have been rumblings of potential roster moves or a head coaching change, Jarred Vanderbilt is maintaining confidence the Lakers are still a championship contender.
“I still believe. I mean, it’s the NBA. We’re just going through a rough patch right now, and it happens on every single team I’ve been on whether we started off hot or started off slow. Everybody goes through it,” Vanderbilt said after the loss to the Grizzlies.
“So this is just a time that we’re going through. And like I said, we just got to individually figure out something that we all could do individually to help our team get better and then collectively come together as a unit and try to achieve that goal.”
To win a championship a team typically needs to have a top-five defense, and the Lakers have tried to hang their hat on that end. But there has been slippage in that area, which included allowing 23 3-pointers to the Grizzlies on Friday.
“There’s always something you can do better. But a lot of stuff we get off by percentages in the last couple games. Some guys that generally aren’t good shooters, they made shots. Sometimes you got to live with that, it’s the scouting report.” Vanderbilt explained.
“But like I said, also mid-game you see a guy that’s not a great shooter that shoots 20% from three and he makes a couple of them, then you got to adjust accordingly. So I think us being able to make in-game adjustments and being able to recognize when guys get hot to adjust.”
Nothing seems to be clicking on both sides of the ball, and that is not a recipe for success. For a team with a lackluster offense, L.A.’s defense has to play into their offense, which is not happening as well.
At this point, there seem to be no immediate changes forthcoming and it’s up to the Lakers to figure things out. If they continue to spiral, it will be deja vu from last season, an uphill climb trying to get into the postseason.
LeBron James: Lakers ‘just suck right now’
For a team that was viewed as the winner or one of the winners of free agency to be below .500 is a disappointment. Despite some good individual performances from Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the latter was blunt by saying the Lakers ‘just suck right now.’
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