This holiday season hasn't exactly been the most wonderful time of the year for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Boston Celtics downed the Lakers 126-115 on Monday in one of the many anticipated matchups on the NBA's Christmas Day slate. Los Angeles has lost six of its last eight games since winning the inaugural in-season tournament on December 9 and is floating just one game above .500 after the holiday loss. And James recognizes the Lakers have shortcomings to address in the new year if the franchise wants to hang a championship banner to go alongside its in-season tourney one.
"I don't think we're healthy right now," James told reporters after the loss to the Celtics. "I don't think we're where we want to be to compete versus the top teams until we continue to get better and better, continue to work our habits. For us, we're still trying to figure our situation out as far as how we want to continue to attack each game, but we'll get better."
The numbers seem to agree with "King James."
After Monday's loss, the Lakers are 16-15, good for ninth in the Western Conference. L.A. is 7.5 games back of the top-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves and just a half-game ahead of the Golden State Warriors.
The Lakers are just 4-13 this season against opponents currently among the top six in either conference. And despite the team's top two stars, James and Anthony Davis, missing only a combined five games this season—though there have been other injuries throughout the lineup—the Lakers are hovering in the play-in picture. And the lack of success against the league's best was apparent right away in this most recent loss.
Boston jumped out to a 12-0 lead just minutes after tipoff in L.A. against the Lakers' new-look starting five and was on top by as much as 18 in the first quarter. The Lakers rallied to trail by only a point going into halftime, then took a 1-point lead moments into the third quarter on a finger roll layup from James.
After a few back-and-forth minutes, though, the Celtics took the lead back and kept it for good.
All five Boston starters scored at least 18 points, led by center Kristaps Porzingis, who tallied 28 (11-of-19 shooting) to go along with 11 rebounds and two blocks. The All-Star tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored a combined 44 as the Celtics won their third straight and improved to an NBA-best 23-6.
"Very happy about the game we had as a team," Porzingis said postgame, according to the Associated Press. "And honestly we played really good basketball.... We did not shoot what we normally shoot from outside. But other than that, I think we played really well."
James approached triple-double territory on the night with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the loss. Davis led all players with 40 points and 13 rebounds on the night for the Lakers. But after the game, the eight-time All-Star provided a list of Lakers mistakes long enough to rival Kris Kringle's—from defensive mishaps to missed free throws.
And in the end, that cost the Lakers a festive win against elite competition.
"We missed some easy ones," Davis said, according to The Athletic. "I missed some easy ones early on. The turnovers and transition kind of hurt us tonight. Against a team like that, the best team in the league, they make you pay for it."
The Lakers close out 2023 with three games against the Hornets (7-20), Timberwolves (22-6) and Pelicans (17-13).
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Robert Read is a Sports Reporter at Newsweek based in Florida. He previously spent four years working at The Daily ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
