Success at the top doesn't come without any adversity the rest of the way. As the season ramps up with more games heading into the New Year, it'll get harder from here. Further success must be proceeded with caution. The Lakers are on a tremendous start 24-3 heading into this week. As Anthony Davis mentioned, this team vows to never lose a game back-to-back. Saying it is easy. Doing it presents a bigger challenge. And quite frankly, the Lakers were due to overcome a little adversity at some point.
12/17: @ Indiana 102-105 [L] (24-4)
It was a homecoming for coach Vogel after a few years of coaching the Pacers to a pair of Eastern Conference Finals appearances. The road streak was fun while it lasted. With the way the Lakers are keeping games close, this was bound to happen eventually. Although, there's no denying that the presence of Anthony Davis was sorely missed. The Lakers ruled out AD after he tweaked an ankle on Sunday's win against the Hawks. The Pacers may be missing their best player in Victor Oladipo, but they aren't no pushover because of how head coach Nate McMillan gets the best out of the talent he has. As expected, the game was tightly contested all the way. In the 4th quarter, the Lakers looked like they about to pull away with a minute and thirty left in the game. But the Pacers kept roaring back behind the efforts of Malcolm Brogdon and a beastly performance from Domantas Sabonis. LA had all kinds of chances to regain momentum and pull out the victory...if they made their free throws down the stretch.
Free throws down the stretch cost the Lakers this game. Despite the greatness of LeBron James, he has been shooting poorly from the free throw line as of late and it showed this game with no AD to bail out the team. As for Dwight Howard, great throwback performance from him with a 20 point game and a perfect 10-10 field goals. But, when you have to rely on Dwight to make free throws in the clutch, you are bound to lose. Indiana kept the window open for the Lakers, but the Lakers could not capitalize because of their own mishaps. LeBron went 0-6 from 3-point. Rajon Rondo was atrocious this game, but you let him take the potential game-tying shot. As mentioned Dwight stepped up as well as Avery Bradley, chipping 13 points this game. You'll probably not see them perform like this on a night-to-night basis. Next game against the Bucks raises the stakes in this heavyweight fight on Thursday night as two of the best teams look to bounce back from tough, streak-breaking losses.
12/19: @ Milwaukee 104-111 [L] (24-5)
NBA fans are in for a treat for a possible Finals matchup. Lakers and the Bucks. The King and the 'Brow battle the Greek Freak, the reigning, defending league MVP. This had all the makings of a heavyweight fight. 12 rounds of boxing converted into 4 quarters of basketball.
And the Bucks win by unanimous decision! Let's be honest, the Lakers could not stop Milwaukee's three-point shooting. When you have Giannis hitting threes, you know you're in big trouble. He hit five threes this game. Five threes! And he also picked his spots against the Laker defense. Poor KCP was thrown into the fodder having to guard the "Greek god of the deer." AD and LeBron guarded him in some spurts and did well. It boggles my mind why we couldn't cancel out Giannis' length with either of those guys full time. Well, AD in particular. We all know LeBron needs his rest. It also doesn't help that the Lakers' 2nd unit scored a whopping 4 points compared to the Bucks' 34 points lead by George Hill's 21 points. They were literally playing five on ten this game and I'm surprised they almost rallied. Key word "almost." They just couldn't stop the precipitation of threes.
12/22: vs. Denver 128-104 [L] (24-6)
The four words that we all don't want to hear prior to this game: LeBron James is OUT. The reports say that he has a strain on his back. Well, literally LeBron and AD are carrying this team throughout the duration of the season. When their backs give out, the purple and gold are in a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, it was LeBron's back that gave out. When he goes, so does the flow of this offense. And it showed this game. I'm not going to say much, but Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma's return carried this Lakers team this game. Outside of Rondo, the Lakers could not find ways to move the ball and create shots for the team. 19 assists has got to be a season low for this team. The offense was literally give AD the ball and make him do work. Oh, and he aggravated his ankle injury. Meanwhile, Denver controlled the pace of the game and dominated flat out in the 2nd half with ball movement and spacing. It's a small sample size, but without LeBron as the primary floor general, this offense staggers.
With the Lakers' recent skid, other top teams in the West are slowly creeping up for the top seed. Denver and Houston are back in the race. You know who else is? The dreaded Clippers. The only thing that's stopping the Clippers from overtaking the entire conference is their affinity for load management. The last thing the Lakers need in this anticipated rematch on Christmas Day is their top stars hobbled with injuries as LeBron and AD are questionable for that game. Just like last Christmas game, I can guarantee you that this game will also be a fortune-changing game for the Lakers.
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