LeBron Returns To LA! Is it Too Little, Too Late?
Posted 6 days ago | NBA | 0 comments
By Nick Parsons
In Los Angeles, Lakers fans are breathing just a little easier today. For one game anyway, the LAL were able to set aside all their troubles and woes, and actually win a game against a quality opponent. The 116-100 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday was as impressive as it was unexpected. The Grizz were red-hot going in and the Lakers were ice cold.
Go figure. Heading into the game, the Lakers were a toxic mix of lackadaisical defense and inefficient offense. But they were able to get their together for 24 minutes, led by 18 at the half and then rode Anthony Davis’s 40-point , 15-rebound night to victory. LeBron Jones, whose goal of playing in all 82 games this season proved folly, returned from a night off and was solid if not dominant in his new role as Robin to Davis’s Batman.
All of which raises the question of which Lakers team we will see for the rest of the season and into the playoffs. Probably both. Despite Davis’s dominance, the Lakers clearly need the soon-to-be 40-year-old James to be a reasonable facsimile of himself in order to even pretend that they can contend come playoff season – and he hasn’t been anywhere close to that. Plus-minus numbers can be misleading at times, but consider that James has the worst P/M number on the team. When he is on the court, LA has been outscored by a whopping total of 129 points.
During one recent stretch, James missed on 20 consecutive 3-pointers, although he broke that streak by going 3-6 from deep against Memphis. Despite the presence Davis, an all-world defender, the Lakers have been one of the weakest defensive teams in the league, giving up 115 points a game. In the Western Conference, only bottom feeders Utah and New Orleans are worse.
And when the D has been halfway decent, as in a game last week against Minnesota, the offense takes the night off. Result: T-Wolves 97, Lakers 87. It was so bad at one point that there was some on-line speculation that the Lakers might even consider trading James, a ludicrous proposition given the belief that LeBron himself pretty much decides who stays and who goes. (You have to wonder what he thinks when he sees his old Cavalier team beating teams night after night.)
But now that we’re on the other side of the Dec. 15 trade mark, the rest of the underachieving roster might be squirming. DeAngelo Russell and his expiring contract looks as good as gone, and every player besides Davis, James and rookie Dalton Knecht could be on the market as the Lakers seek a big to take the pressure off Davis and a point guard to make life easier on James.
The Lakers are +3500 to win the title this year, but no one is really consider Title No. 18 a legit possibility, especially if the Big Two have to play big minutes just to be in the post-season mix. Right now both are averaging over 35 minutes a game. New coach J.J. Redick no doubt is hoping that the surprising win over Memphis was not a one-off, and that in that victory the team can find something – anything – that can sustain them through the remaining 56 games, all of which will take a toll on James’s legs and Davis’s resolve.
They can’t put it together EVERY night like they did against Memphis, and every night they fall short will increase the pressure on everyone from the owner to the front office to the coach to the players. Los Angles is 14-12, playing at a pace behind last year’s 47-win team. But 10 of the 14 victories came in the first 14 games of the season, and the Lakers are now just one of eight teams in the middle of the Western Conference hoping to get some momentum. Not exactly what Laker Nation had in mind.
