The Los Angeles Lakers dropped the Los Angeles derby, leaving them sixth in the Western Conference standings with a 22-18 record. In the postgame presser, LeBron James made it clear to his teammates that the margin for error is razor-thin at this point in the season, while subtly suggesting that the team’s construction may be a limiting factor.
“We don’t have a choice,” James said via Spectrum SportsNet when asked about the mental challenge of playing near-flawless basketball. “That’s the way our team is constructed, and we have to. We have to play close to perfect basketball. And we know the game is never perfect. It’s never gonna be a 48-minute perfect basketball game”.
“But we can’t combat it on multiple possessions in a row or if we’re turning the ball over, we have to do a better job of that,” James continued. “Defensively, we can’t have breakdowns. If our coaching staff has a game plan for us, we can’t break down on the game plan”.
With James emphasizing that the team must play nearly flawless basketball due to having no margin for error—a situation he attributes to the way the roster is constructed—it seems like a subtle message directed at the front office, urging them to make additional moves to strengthen the team’s championship aspirations.
JJ Redick echoes James’ sentiments
Lakers head coach JJ Redick aligned with LeBron’s assessment, acknowledging that the team’s margin for error is slim. “We just don’t have a huge margin for error and nor can we create that margin organically,” Redick admitted.
Redick also appeared to echo LeBron’s veiled critique of the front office when discussing the team’s limitations. “We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to necessarily always draw two to the ball,” Redick noted.
“We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to be able to get past his guy one-on-one and get to the paint and spray it out. It’s just not our team,” Redick continued. “So, we have to do it through connectivity, through execution, and when we do that, we’re really good”.
Anthony Davis highlights Lakers’ costly errors
Lakers big man Anthony Davis also weighed in, pointing to simple mistakes as a major reason for the team’s struggles. “So many simple mistakes,” Davis admitted. “They got some offensive rebounds. Anytime we made a run, they made a run of their own”.
Clippers center Ivica Zubac proved to be a nightmare matchup for the Lakers, finishing with 21 points and 19 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass.
“We have a great stretch, and then we have two or three mistakes in a row, and they capitalize every time,” Davis added. “You’ve got to play great basketball against good teams like that”.