James sounds off after loss
LOS ANGELES — LeBron James didn’t sugarcoat his increasingly sour feelings after the Lakers spiraled to their 10th loss in 13 games Friday night, falling 127-113 to the Grizzlies.
“We just suck right now,” a visibly perturbed James said after he scored 32 points in the Lakers’ fourth consecutive loss.
The Lakers — who gave up a season-high 23 3-pointers to a Grizzlies team that’s last in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage — have beaten only the Spurs, Thunder and Hornetts since raising the trophy in Las Vegas four weeks ago.
Before the game, coach Darvin Ham said he felt confident in his job security because of his discussions with owner Jeanie Buss and general manager Rob Pelinka. After the Lakers’ latest dismal effort, Ham praised his team’s areas of improvement while expressing a curious frustration with the public reception of their recent struggles.
“This is the NBA, man,” Ham said. “This is a marathon. You have to look at the totality of the picture. I’m tired of people living and dying with every single game we play. It’s ludicrous, actually. It’s like, ‘Come on, man. This is a marathon.’ We hit a tough stretch. It’s the same team. We played some high-level games a little while ago, and we’ve just got to get back to that. We’ve got to keep the fight, though. We cannot lose our fight.”
James doesn’t share his coach’s optimism: He reacted negatively to a suggestion that the Lakers’ solid play in the tournament final was an indication that this team can be a championship contender.
“That was just two games, though,” James said. “That was a small sample. Everybody is getting so cracked up about Vegas, keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games. We took care of that business … but that was really just two games.”
The Lakers dropped to 0-2 to begin a 12-game stretch with just one game outside of Los Angeles. The Lakers acknowledge they’re feeling the strain of their losing streak.
“Wearing this uniform, you get a lot of flack, and guys are watching you under a microscope as a team,” Lakers center Anthony Davis said. “You have a couple of bad games, lose a couple in a row, you can’t lose your confidence. Can’t be on social media, listening to whatever people are saying. We’ve got to stay together in this locker room and find our way out of it. There’s no help coming. There’s no cavalry. We’ve got to do it with the guys we’ve got and remain together.”.
The Lakers had won six consecutive home games over the Grizzlies in the past 12 months, including three straight in the Lakers’ first-round playoff upset of the second-seeded Grizz last spring.
“It was good, because obviously we haven’t won here in a while,” Grizzlies guard Ja Morant said. “It’s the team that knocked us out of the playoffs. Obviously, we’re not where we want to be right now during the season, so this was a big-time win for us.”
The Lakers played without two regulars and frequent starters: D’Angelo Russell missed his third straight game with a bruised tailbone, and Rui Hachimura missed his second in a row with a strained left calf.