Dude, the Los Angeles Lakers are a hot mess right now. Their slide continued with another rough loss on Friday – they got smoked by the Memphis Grizzlies 127-113.
That’s their 10th L in the last 13 games. Not good at all for the purple and gold. Their record now stands at a wack 17-19. This star-studded squad was supposed to contend, not be a play-in team!
After the game, LeBron James didn’t sugarcoat anything. He kept it real with reporters, saying straight up “We just suck right now.” He led the team with 32 points, but also had some killer turnovers in the 4th quarter when Memphis pulled away. C’mon Bron, gotta protect the rock!
Get this – the Grizzlies roll into this game with the WORST 3-point percentage in the league. But they got hotter than fish grease against the Lakers’ weak defense, hitting 23(!) three-pointers. Sheesh. Jaren Jackson Jr. was en fuego with 31 points, part of four Grizzlies dropping 20+ points on the Lake Show. Not a good look for LA.
LeBron’s frustration boiled over when some reporter asked him about Ricky Rubio retiring. He wasn’t having it, firing back:
“I’m not really in the mood to answer that question, but I respect Ricky. Congratulations on a hell of a career, and if I don’t seem sincere when you see this video, it’s because we got our a** whooped again. I apologize. It was actually bad timing on the interviewer asking me this question.”
Can’t say I blame LeBron for being salty. Another L is tough to swallow.
Meanwhile, Lakers coach Darvin Ham tried to stay positive, saying:
I’m tired of people living and dying with every single game we play. It’s ludicrous, actually. We hit a tough stretch. It’s the same team. We played some high-level games a little while ago, and we’ve got to get back to that.”
Ham’s talking about when LA won that new in-season tourney in December. But LeBron wasn’t trying to hear that, shutting it down quick:
“That was just two games. Everybody is getting so cracked up about Vegas. It was two games.”
OK Bron, we get it – that little tournament don’t change the fact that the Lakers stink lately. They’re currently 11th in the West with a 17-19 record. Not where they wanna be.
And it won’t get easier quick. Their next game is against the second-place Clippers on Sunday. The Clippers have been ballin’, winning 14 of their last 16. Safe to say they’ll be big favorites playing at home against the slumping Lakers.
So what gives? Why are the Lakers playin’ so bad? Well their defense is straight booty juice, ranked 4th worst in the league giving up 117 points a game. Recipe for disaster right there.
Their shooting has also fallen off a cliff. They’re near the bottom in field goal and 3-point percentage. C’mon now, with dudes like LeBron and AD you gotta shoot better than that!
Chemistry is a question mark too. The team is still gelling after adding vets like Pat Bev and Dennis Schroder.
And in the middle is 37-year-old LeBron, who despite dropping 29 a game, just can’t carry this squad like he used to. His frustration is obvious in the media. He needs help from AD, Thomas Bryant and the rest of the supporting cast if the Lakeshow gonna turn this around.
The Lakers are running out of time to get it together before the playoffs. They got some brutal matchups with the Clippers, Nuggets, Sixers and Celtics coming up. If they keep taking Ls, some big trades could happen before the deadline in February.
Bottom line – the Lakers have seriously underperformed given the high level talent they have. LeBron said it best himself – they “just suck right now.” Gotta recapture that 2020 championship swag if they wanna make noise in the playoffs this year.
Lakers fans are getting antsy. Can LeBron, AD and the gang figure this thing out? Or is it about to be a lost season in Los Angeles? The drama continues…
