After the Los Angeles Lakers’ second straight embarrassing preseason loss to the Golden State Warriors, questions arose about what was wrong with the Lakers. The Warriors shot 56 percent and got any shot they wanted as the Lakers were unable to keep up.
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One reason why the Lakers struggled may have had to do with the Lakers practicing so hard. According to Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters, Kobe Bryant said that the Lakers had heavy legs tonight:
Kobe says everyone has pretty heavy legs right now, says they've been practicing really hard
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 13, 2014
Bryant seemed to imply that the Lakers were worn down some tonight, but according to Lakers reporter Mike Trudell, he believes the Lakers will be fine and fresh before the regular season begins:
Kobe: “We haven’t started tapering down yet.” Thinks guys will be more fresh ahead of the regular season. Focus now has been work.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) October 13, 2014
Byron Scott has been very hard-nosed this training camp, focusing on defense and conditioning. Kobe even said himself that he had never run this much during a training camp. It can, however, have some consequences, and the Lakers may have felt that tonight.
This style of practicing was never meant to go on once the regular season comes around and Scott knows that. If a couple of bad preseason games means the Lakers can run around forever during the regular season, Scott will surely take that tradeoff.
However, with the Lakers being hit with the injury bug already and Steve Nash not feeling quite right, Scott may have to tone it down a little earlier than expected.
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