On Wednesday, the Lakers had one of their worst team performances of the season as they lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 105-86.
L.A. had a startling inability to hit open shots and looked unusually out of sync. After the game, LeBron James hinted that it may be more than just the players getting back into rhythm after over four months of no basketball.
LeBron James says there’s some things off the floor that he can’t control that’s possibly affecting the team. He wouldn’t reveal what that was during his interview.
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) August 6, 2020
All season long, the Lakers had been one of the NBA’s better offensive teams. For much of the campaign, they had been in the top five in offensive rating and top three in fast-break points.
But since the 2019-20 season resumed in Orlando, Fla., the Lakers’ offense has looked broken. They shot less than 40 percent in both of their first two games while putting forth unusually low point totals by their standards.
By shooting just 35.2 percent from the field and 13.5 percent from downtown against the Thunder, there are suddenly real concerns about L.A.’s ability to manufacture enough points to beat quality teams.
Although the team has the top seed in the Western Conference all sewn up, if it continues to play the way it has offensively, an early postseason exit may not be out of the question.
