On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers opened the 2020-21 regular season by losing to the Los Angeles Clippers in a contest that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
Center Marc Gasol broke down exactly why his team lost and what went wrong.
Marc Gasol on his Lakers debut: "Tough. Tough game. Never got in a rhythm offensively. … Defensively, got put in a bad position from the get-go. Ticky-tack fouls. … It could only get better, so that's definitely a positive."
— Matthew Moreno (@Matthew__Moreno) December 23, 2020
Right after getting rings for winning the 2020 NBA championship, the Purple and Gold promptly fell behind by a large margin in the first quarter.
They made a strong rally in the second quarter to make it a competitive contest, but to no avail, as the Clippers reasserted themselves and rebuilt their lead.
Ultimately, the Lakers were their own worst enemy by committing too many turnovers and failing to hit enough 3-pointers to come all the way back.
Gasol was also a culprit, as he failed to contribute in any meaningful way.
The Lakers will have two full days off to address their deficiencies before taking the court for a Christmas Day showdown against European phenom Luka Doncic and his Dallas Mavericks.
