The Los Angeles Lakers won the league’s In-Season Tournament, but they don’t look like a legitimate NBA championship contender right now. Besides LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the rest of the team has lacked consistency.
That was evident in their five-point loss to the New York Knicks. It seemed like they had the game under control and were at home, yet they seemed to run out of gas later.
That has been a worrisome trend for Darvin Ham’s team early in the season. They shouldn’t be so gassed out after just one-quarter of the regular season has gone by.
LeBron James Blames Road Games For Exhaustion
When asked about that, LeBron pointed out the fact that the Lakers had only had two home games since November 22, stating that all that traveling is starting to catch up with them:
“I feel like our energy was up and down throughout the course of the game,” James said after losing to the Knicks. “We’ve been feeling it, definitely, like you said, first time being home since Dec. 5 and now we hit the road against tomorrow. But I feel like even through that, we still competed. We competed and gave ourselves a chance to stay in the game throughout the game. But it was just a tough one for us.”
Of course, traveling takes a big toll on your body, especially going through different timezones. But it’s still too early in the season to use that as an excuse, especially considering they travel in private jets and stay in five-star hotels:
“It’s been a killer for us with the travel and games and things of that nature,” he continued. “But no rest for the weary, we just got to mentally stay locked in and get ready for Chicago first, who had a big win tonight. Big win for them against Philly in Philly. So looking forward to the matchup.”
At the end of the day, the Lakers will have no choice but to keep pushing. Everybody has the same amount of road and home games, and they’re not the only team that has had to travel.
SURVEY Is LeBron\'s excuse valid?
Is LeBron\'s excuse valid?
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