Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Before the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, former NBA Coach of the Year Sam Mitchell expressed disappointment in LeBron James for some of his recent comments on the team.
Mitchell was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year for the 2006-07 season, when he was the head coach of the Toronto Raptors franchise. He earned the award after coaching the Raptors to a 47-35 record during the regular season.
The success that Mitchell and the Raptors enjoyed during the 2006-07 regular season didn’t quite carry over into the 2007 playoffs, though, seeing as how Toronto was eliminated by Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and the New Jersey Nets in six games in the first round.
James commented that the Lakers “suck right now” following the team’s home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies back on Jan. 5, which marked the team’s fourth defeat in a row. Across 39 minutes of playing time in the loss, James dropped 32 points, five rebounds, seven assists and five steals while shooting 11-of-24 from the field and 4-of-9 from outside the 3-point arc.
The Lakers and James managed to snap their losing streak in their game against the Clippers on Sunday. The 39-year-old racked up 25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and one steal while shooting 11-of-19 from the field in the Lakers’ three-point win.
While he didn’t have as productive of a game as James did, Taurean Prince also played well against the Clippers, as he totaled 13 points, two assists and one steal while shooting 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point range in 30 minutes of playing time.
Los Angeles will have a chance to earn its first winning streak in quite some when the Lakers host the Raptors on Tuesday. The Raptors have been one of the more underwhelming teams in the Eastern Conference so far this season, as they own the No. 11 seed in the conference at 15-21.
Hopefully for the Lakers, James will start feeling more optimistic about the team sometime soon. L.A. may need to string some wins together in order for that to happen.
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