Lakers News: Has L.A. Turned A Corner?
Ahead of last night's dispiriting 116-102 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, your Los Angeles Lakers had been on something of a surprising roll, having won eight of their last ten games, including three in a row.
Along with falling to Cleveland, the Lakers also lost their best player, All-NBA center Anthony Davis, to a flu-like illness that forced him to leave the floor for good near the end of the bout's first quarter.
Zooming out, however, signs of a successful turnaround are encouraging.
Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson and Sandeep Chandok of Bally Sports discussed L.A.'s pre-Cleveland turn of fortune.
Chandok noted that the Lakers are "now finally finding their groove it seems like. They beat the Wizards on Sunday night, 130-119, prior to that they beat the Bucks on Friday night... Just an incredible performance by Anthony Davis... The biggest thing here is that the Lakers are winning. After starting their season 2-12, they're now 8-2 in their last ten games."
"It's the first quarter of the NBA season, and I think when you look at the Lakers team that is constructed, a lot of people [were ]skeptical because of last season," Robinson noted. "Basketball is definitely a game of runs, it's a game of getting people healthy and then clicking at the right time. The Bucks win to me was impressive because... anybody can lose, anybody can win. But AD has been clicking on all cylinders... They have a chance to kind of move up the ranks pretty quickly [in the Western Conference]... Really and truly, Darvin Ham, head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, knows how to utilize minutes... I'm glad to see that the Lakers are kind of righting the ship early on."
Following the Cavaliers loss, L.A. now sits at 10-13. The team now sits just two games out of the tenth seed in the West, which if games ended tomorrow would put the Lakers into the play-in tournament. Should no additional moves be made by Los Angeles to improve the roster, a low play-in tournament slot seems like the club's most likely fate, given the health and injury issues of the team's two best players, Davis and James.
