The Los Angeles Lakers season opener did not go as planned Thursday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, as they were blown out 108-92 in a game that didn’t even seem that close.
The Lakers were getting good looks, but their shots just weren’t falling, which head coach Luke Walton believed affected the team’s mindset defensively.
During and after the game some Laker fans showed their frustration with the Lakers performance by showering them with boos, which Walton believes that they deserved. “I wasn’t happy with what we gave our fans tonight,” Walton said in his postgame press conference. “In my opinion, they are the best fans in the league, and they support so much. Obviously I heard there were some boos going on that we deserved at those times in the game. I felt like there was effort being thrown out there, it’s just that we are a youthful team.”
“There’s going to be stretches like that. Even when we’re playing hard, we’re struggling to score the ball or we make a defensive rotation, and it’s important that we don’t let that affect the next play and the next play and the next play, which is the natural thing to do in sports. We’re going to stay on them about that.”
While it’s true that the Lakers looked really bad in Thursday night’s loss, it is just one of 82 games so they still have plenty of time to turn it around.
Whether or not it was just a bad night, or a sign of what is to come with the 2017-18 Lakers remains to be seen. But they have a chance to rebound immediately as they return to the court Friday night when they travel to take on the Phoenix Suns, who lost their season opener by 48 points to the Portland Trail Blazers.