It has certainly not been the ideal start for the Los Angeles Lakers, as they fell to 3-5 on the young season after getting blown out by the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, 128-94.
This game was no different from the previous ones as L.A. came into Houston shorthanded with Anthony Davis, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jalen Hood-Schifino all sidelined. From the early going, it was not looking pretty for the Lakers as they fell behind in the first quarter and never got back in it.
With no Davis, it was going to require other players on the roster to step up, but no one did. It was apparent that there was a lack of energy and effort in this one, which led to the rout.
Taurean Prince, who missed two games and returned on Monday against the Miami Heat, noted that injuries are a factor in the early season struggles for the ball club but is not using it as an excuse, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
Taurean Prince, who earned the starting forward spot vacated when Vanderbilt got hurt in the preseason, admitted as he looked around the visitors’ locker room at Toyota Center that he “forgot my guy Gabe [Vincent] wasn’t even here,” referring to yet another sidelined contributor who didn’t accompany the team on the trip to stay back in L.A. and rehabilitate his swollen left knee.
“So it’s like, just putting your mind around what could be or the pieces that we are missing — you don’t want to use that as an excuse but you use it as something you keep in the back of your mind where you just know certain things could be different given a certain situation,” Prince said. “But life don’t work that way.”
L.A. is currently winless on this four game road trip and have yet to win a road game as the team is now 0-5 away from Crypto.com Arena. With the lofty expectations this Lakers team had all summer, fans probably did not expect these kinds of struggles.
While injuries do play a major role in some of these losses, it should not excuse a performance that Lakers fans saw against the Rockets. With the Western Conference being ultra competitive this year, these losses are going to become apparent towards the end of the regular season.
Next up is L.A.’s first In-Season Tournament game against the Phoenix Suns on Friday, Nov. 10, to close out the road trip.
D’Angelo Russell believes Lakers need to ‘play for one another’
It has been a rough start for the purple and gold with urgency seeming to rise for the team to start winning games. D’Angelo Russell believes the team needs to ‘play for another’ to try and get on the right track.
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