Every NBA season has its highs and lows, and the Los Angeles Lakers are currently experiencing a low. LeBron James and company are trying to find ways to improve defensively so they can pick up more wins in a compact Western Conference.
But following a six-game winning streak, L.A. is struggling to keep those winning ways as they have now lost four of their last five. That includes crushing losses to the Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns, essentially sending the Lakers back to the drawing board.
With another loss at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, the purple and gold will now head out on a four-game road trip. The schedule only gets harder from here and James expressed that the Lakers need to lean on each other to get through it.
“You got to figure it out,” he said. “Lean on each other. If you don’t have it, you don’t have the energy, lean on the guy next to you. So it’s gonna be a tough road trip first starting Utah, back-to-back Minnesota, Miami and then Atlanta, last game of the trip. So we gotta be ready to go.”
Notably, L.A. is 4-5 on the road thus far and there are indeed challenging opponents upcoming. The Minnesota Timberwolves are going to be looking for revenge from Opening Night while the Atlanta Hawks recently beat the Cleveland Cavaliers twice and the Miami Heat are a scrappy team led by Jimmy Butler.
However, all four of these games are certainly winnable. It all starts by setting the tone by beating an injury-riddled Utah Jazz team on Sunday. Having blown a couple of games, the Lakers need to right those wrongs by coming out of this roadie with a strong record.
Players tend to play worse on the road and L.A.’s bench production has not been ideal up to this point. With D’Angelo Russell putting together two strong games offensively though, he needs to be a player that continues providing that scoring punch off the bench.
James brings up a good point about leaning on one another and it will be intriguing to see how this message ages when they return in a week.
LeBron James discusses Lakers’ rebounding & turnover struggles
The Lakers’ biggest struggles as of late have been turnovers and allowing second-chance opportunities. That proved to be the case on Friday, as poor decision-making and allowing costly offensive rebounds were their demise.
With those two areas becoming a nagging problem, LeBron James discussed the team’s rebounding and turnover struggles and what they need to do to be better.
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