LeBron James and the Lakers have had a roller coaster couple of weeks. LA experienced the high of winning the NBA In-Season Tournament not long ago, but since then they have gone 2-6.
It was a tough loss for the Lakers against the Celtics on Christmas Day, having clawed their way back from an early 18-point deficit, only to lose 126-115 anyway.
According to Anthony Davis, having a new switching starting lineup – which he said he was in favour of – has led to some communication breakdowns.
“There’s too many mistakes, especially tonight, a ton of mistakes in transition” Davis told reporters postgame. “Obviously, we was crossmatched, so it’s a little tougher. We’ve been really good with turnovers but it’s the timing that kind of hurt us. But we just gotta buckle down defensively.
“Obviously the lineups changed, and we’re not really a switching team but now we’re getting into it because of our lineup. We’re able to do that, so the miscommunication is kinda there. I think just buckling down defensively. Offence, I think we can be fine, but we gotta do a better job on defence.”
Meanwhile, LeBron James pointed to the Lakers’ lack of health compared with the NBA’s best teams.
“I don’t think we’re healthy right now,” James said. “I don’t think we’re where we want to be to compete with the rest of the top teams until we continue to get better … We’re still trying to figure out our situation as far as how we want to continue to attack each game.”
The Lakers, who are currently ninth in the Western Conference at 16-15, will return to the court when they face the Charlotte Hornets at home.
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