Frustration for the Los Angeles Lakers is at an all-time high. For the second game in a row the team blew a 19-point lead, this time to the Miami Heat. After losing to the Hornets on Tuesday, the Lakers fell 115-107 to Miami on Thursday and now questions are rising about the team.
As has been the case in these losses, the Lakers were led by their veteran players, mainly Lou Williams and Nick Young. The two combined for 47 points and hit a number of big shots, but the questions of why the Lakers are struggling to hold leads remain.
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According to Mark Medina of the OC Register, Young believes the Lakers forget what got them the lead in the first place:
“We forgot what got us there,” said Lakers guard Nick Young, who had 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. “Teams put pressure on us and then try to play one-on-one. We have to play team ball and play smart. We’re thinking too much.”
Young also added that the team tends to panic when their leads start to get cut via Tania Ganguli of the LA Times:
“Just gotta get out of panic mode,” Young said. “When we see teams making runs and see the lead cut from [19] to 7, we just gotta stay poised and run the offense.”
Both the team themselves, and fans have been frustrated by the Lakers’ play as of late and rightfully so. Losing 19-point leads in consecutive games is extremely discouraging. Unfortunately the things that Young is pointing out are normal symptoms of young teams like the Lakers.
When things start getting tight, players tend to panic and start trying to do everything themselves, which is exactly what has been seen from the likes of Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, and Julius Randle.
There have been some positive moments throughout the struggles and the fact that the Lakers are capable of building these leads shows much improvement over previous years. Finishing games, however, is a completely different story and the Lakers must figure out how to do so. That comes with time, and despite the anger everywhere right now, the Lakers have plenty of it.
