Thought Starter...
Monday in Phoenix, the Lakers lost their first game of the season.
Wednesday, they played their first horrible game of the season, losing to the Cavaliers in Cleveland 134-110. Everything about this game, from the flow of the offense to the work of the defense to the hustle and focus of the team overall was well below par. The Cavs were, from the jump, more aggressive, more focused and sharper. They buried the Lakers early under a barrage of 3-point shooting. They were more physical than the Lakers, who spent far too much time (particularly Anthony Davis) looking for, and then complaining when they didn’t get a call.
Teams can play well and lose. This wasn’t that.
So now what happens? The Lakers seemed to be a different team leaving the floor Wednesday, with Davis and Austin Reaves limping. The shots still aren’t going down, and now the team is sitting on a two-game losing streak heading into the very winnable portion of the trip (Toronto and Detroit). JJ Redick was visibly ticked after the game, and he can hardly be blamed. Whatever decent individual performances the team got (statistically, at least, LeBron James bounced back from Monday’s clunker, just to name one) were completely undone by a completely lackluster effort defensively.
Now with two winnable games ahead (vs. Toronto and Detroit) the Lakers suddenly have a lot to prove.
Three Questions...
1. Is Anthony Davis hurt? He spent a lot of Wednesday’s game limping.
2. Seriously, what do the Lakers do about the bench?
3. Are they ready for a couple “gut check” games?
