LeBron James: Lakers’ inability to compete against the NBA’s best teams is due to his health
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have faced some obstacles in December as a result of playing some of the league’s best teams and getting a chance to compare themselves against elite players.
Among the noteworthy games were those versus the Boston Celtics on Christmas, the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Minnesota Timberwolves. Although they beat the Thunder this past Saturday, which was an incredible victory, the Lakers haven’t played well in recent games.
The Lakers’ 126-115 loss to the Celtics made it even more clear that they are still behind the elite teams in the NBA. James thinks the Lakers aren’t where they should be and that their inability to compete with the best in the league is a result of their health.
“I believe that Minnesota [Timberwolves], one of the league’s finest teams thus far, are essentially healthy. Aside from Josh Giddey, OKC was essentially in good shape. Boston is also in perfect health. We’re not healthy right now, in my opinion,” James remarked.
“And until we keep improving and staying committed to improving our habits, I don’t think we’re ready to compete against the best teams.” And as for us, we’re still attempting to assess our circumstances and choose how we want to approach each game going forward. But we’ll improve.
James has noticed some improvements even though the club has been struggling since winning the In-Season Tournament and is currently hanging around 500.
“I’m not sure, but I thought we played really well today. I believed AD to be clearly exceptional. AD has been rather prolific lately,” he remarked. And I felt we were quite good offensively. Even though we had some extremely strong looks, we were unable to defeat them. They made a commendable effort to take [Kristaps] Porzingis away to paint and make us shoot a few threes.
been really happy recently,” he remarked. And I felt we were quite good offensively. Even though we had some extremely strong looks, we were unable to defeat them. They made a commendable effort to take [Kristaps] Porzingis away to paint and make us shoot a few threes.
We also had several excellent looks from our more proficient 3-point shooters, but we were unable to bring them down. On the other hand, I believed that we were quite strong at times. You can’t put a team like that on the free throw line, and that damaged us. Jayson Tatum is simply too good to be given those kinds of free throw opportunities. You can’t put them on the free throw line. I think we were in the penalty area against them by about the six-minute mark of the third quarter. That presented a challenge for us.
The Lakers were regarded as the best team in the Western Conference going into the season, therefore high expectations were high. However, the team has really been hindered by injuries and uneven performance from both sides. The offensive for Los Angeles has to find some consistency because it is still inconsistent from game to game.
James is aware of this team’s potential; the key is to play as a unit for the entire 48 minutes each night. To finish the season, the Charlotte Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New Orleans Pelicans present three more challenges; the latter two are teams that the purple and gold must defeat in the standings.
A painful knee from LeBron James’ collision with Jaylen Brown
Late in the second quarter of the Christmas Day game, James and Jaylen Brown collided, giving both teams a little panic. James stated after the game that his knee was “still a little sore” from the injury he sustained in the incident.
