After losing two games in a row while both of their superstars were ailing, the Los Angeles Lakers got back on track on Friday with a 123-120 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Both LeBron James and Anthony Davis seemed to be back to normal, and the win put the Lakers in eighth place in the Western Conference.
If they want to actually finish eighth and have to win just one, rather than two, play-in tournament games to make the playoffs, they will have to win on Sunday afternoon over the New Orleans Pelicans. However, the way L.A. played on Friday would’ve likely resulted in a loss against most other teams.
The Lakers allowed themselves to fall behind by nine at one point in the third quarter. Their defense allowed an extremely depleted Grizzlies squad to shoot 43.6% from 3-point range and have three players score more than 20 points, three of whom got to at least 28 points.
Rui Hachimura said it was “one of the worst games” L.A. has played all season and that it cannot mess around with inferior teams.
Via Lakers Nation:
“You guys saw tonight, they really had nothing to lose,” Hachimura said of the Grizzlies. “They just played hard, this is the Lakers, for them it’s like a playoff game. We definitely played probably one of the worst games probably this whole season and it can’t happen like this. It’s the end of the season already, but we’re trying to build something for the playoffs. So we can’t be messing around with a team like this. It was a close game, we were supposed to have our young guys play this game. So we didn’t do a good job, I feel like. But a win is a win, we got this one. It’s an NBA game, but we got to prepare from this.”
Hachimura also held his teammates accountable for offensive miscues, such as the ones that resulted in 19 turnovers.
“… We were just loose today. Offensively, we didn’t really share the ball,” Hachimura added. “We were just moving around, we weren’t really moving well, I feel like, from the start of the game. They were moving the ball, they were playing harder and we were struggling. The turnovers messed up our rhythm too. They were able to get on fastbreaks, 3-on-1 or whatever, and they scored easily. So those are the stuff we got to look for, for sure.”
Underperforming against inferior teams has been a major problem for the Lakers all season long. From this point on, they will not be facing any inferior teams, so there is absolutely no excuse for them to lack focus, intensity or…
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