Before entering the competition with the Miami Heat at noon on January 4 Vietnam time, the Los Angeles Lakers were full of hope of winning despite still having some personnel problems.
They entered a series of 5 home games after 3 weeks of continuously traveling across the United States, facing a Miami Heat without star Jimmy Butler and on a 2-game losing streak.
But LeBron James and his teammates still “shot themselves in the foot” with their worst performance so far this season, causing the Lakers to continue to decline.
Missing 26 3-pointers (4-30 3PT) and losing the ball 21 times, including 10 turnovers in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers lost 96-110 to the Miami Heat.
Besides two familiar names that show stability, Anthony Davis (29 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 blocks) and Austin Reaves (24 points, 8 assists, 7-12 FG), no LA player competes. fight in proper form.
This observation is true for LeBron James when he played under his strength, with only 12 points (6-18 FG and 0-6 3PT) along with 6 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 turnovers.
After the match, LeBron James refused to fulfill his press conference obligations and quietly left the field. Austin Reaves replaced the “king” in contact with reporters and said that the atmosphere in the locker room was very heavy.
“Unlike other defeats, things were quite quiet in the dressing room. The atmosphere is worse than the losing streak we had in our recent away trip,” Austin Reaves said.
“It can be said that the whole team is not satisfied with the way we performed on the field. Personally, I also feel worried and uncomfortable with this failure. The whole team will need to sit together to find a solution. We need to win the match as soon as possible.”
This defeat caused the yellow and purple team to continue their free fall after winning the NBA In-Season Tournament, losing 9 out of 12 matches since the day they lifted the trophy in Las Vegas.
In addition, this is the first time since early November that the Lakers have more losses than wins with a total record of 17-18, ranking 10th in the Western rankings.
There are still many opportunities for the Los Angeles Lakers to do it again as they can play 11 of the next 12 matches at Crypto.com Arena, interrupted by a trip to the Utah Jazz’s stadium.
However, opportunities will come with challenges because this series of matches has many difficult opponents such as LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder or the next match, Memphis Grizzlies, taking place on Saturday morning, January 6.
