The Los Angeles Lakers entered the season as the most revamped team in the NBA. They wanted to bounce back from last year’s heartbreaking first-round exit and keep up with the Brooklyn Nets.
But neither of the additions they made has made a strong impact on the court thus far. If anything, it seems like their chemistry – or lack thereof – is one of the main reasons why they’ve struggled thus far.
LeBron James has been in and out of the rotation due to multiple injuries and ailments, Russell Westbrook’s fit continues to be an issue, and it just doesn’t seem like this Lakers team is scaring anybody.
Anthony Davis Says Lakers Need To Play Like Underdogs
That’s why, following yesterday’s embarrassing loss to a depleted Memphis Grizzlies team, Anthony Davis took a deep look in the mirror and pointed out the Lakers’ lack of toughness this season:
“We gotta play like we’re the underdogs,” Davis said,according to ClutchPoints. “Which, now, at this point in the season, the way we’re playing, in a lot of games we probably are. We gotta be able to have that mindset and we gotta come in and be scrappy and be the more physical team and play like we’re the underdogs.”
AD Thinks The Team Needs To Find Consistency
Davis knows that this isn’t going to get things done in the Western Conference. The Lakers need to find their rhythm and be more consistent, as they can’t keep alternating wins and losses:
“That’s our biggest problem right now: consistency,” Davis said. “We come out certain games and don’t play how we’re supposed to play. Then, games like Boston, we come out and play great. We gotta be a more consistent team if we want to truly compete for a championship. It’s a mindset thing.”
“We understand that we’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” the forward added. “We can’t control misses or makes, but we can control our effort defensively. We try to hold our hats on being a top-five defensive team, and we haven’t been. We’ve gotta change that quickly. I think we’re in sixth (in the West) right now. We can’t keep taking a step forward and two steps backward. We gotta fix it quickly.”
The Lakers have enough talent to turn this around and go on a big run but their body language seems way off right now. Besides the odd fit and their spacing issues, their mindset also needs a couple of tweaks if they’re going to be a legit contender this season.
