Lakers News: LeBron James makes something clear about surprising loss to the 76ers

The Los Angeles Lakers appeared to be finding their stride this season, riding a four-game win streak with impressive performances. However, their momentum came to an abrupt halt with a 118-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. After the game, LeBron James reflected on what went wrong for his team.

The loss came as a surprise given the context of both teams’ recent form. The Lakers had defeated strong opponents like the Celtics and Warriors during their win streak, while the 76ers had lost eight of their last 10 games and were missing key players like Joel Embiid and Paul George.

A major issue for the Lakers was turnovers, compounded by Anthony Davis exiting early in the first quarter due to injury. LeBron James struggled in this department, committing eight of the team’s 22 total turnovers.

“I just thought we weren’t as mentally sharp as we should’ve been tonight and made too many mistakes. That’s all,” James explained postgame via Spectrum SportsNet.

LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives against Eric Gordon #23 of the Philadelphia 76ers during the first half at the Wells Fargo Center. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

Turnovers plague LeBron and the Lakers

The Lakers’ 22 turnovers starkly contrasted with the 76ers’ eight. Philadelphia capitalized on these mistakes, scoring 27 points off turnovers. James took accountability for the miscues and stressed the need for improvement.

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“No excuses. Got to be better… Just got to be better,”James affirmed. “Can’t keep making the same mistakes. We can’t allow teams to get out and run. We had too many turnovers tonight that resulted in too many buckets for them”.

“Like I said, we don’t have a lot of room for error,” he continued. “When we make errors, teams usually make us pay. So we gotta be better, and it also starts with me being one of the primary ball-handlers“.

JJ Redick weighs in on the turnovers issue

Lakers head coach JJ Redick highlighted defensive lapses as another critical issue. He pointed to the final four minutes of the first quarter and the entire second quarter, during which the 76ers built a 16-point lead that the Lakers could never overcome.

“It was that last four-minute stretch and the 12 minutes of the second quarter where we were just terrible defensively, and obviously, the turnovers hurt that,” Redick explained. “But when we actually found something good in the second half, we just, you know, didn’t execute”.