Whatever hope the Los Angeles Lakers had that returning to their home arena would be just what the team needed to spring back to life was dashed Friday night sometime around the Memphis Grizzlies’ 20th 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter.
After ending the third quarter with the score tied, Memphis outscored L.A. by 14 in the fourth and won 127-113 to hand the Lakers their fourth straight loss.
The Lakers are now 17-19 — 11th in the Western Conference and out of even play-in tournament contention — less than a month after winning the league’s inaugural in-season tournament.
For LeBron James, who led all scorers with 32 points but went just 2-for-6 from the foul line and committed three turnovers in the fourth, there was no sugarcoating it.
“I mean, we just suck right now,” James said.
Their struggles have gone on for weeks, going just 3-10 overall since their tournament championship in Las Vegas.
It was a championship that, in retrospect, might have been given too much weight in evaluating L.A.’s season, considering it was ultimately captured with two wins over the New Orleans Pelicans and Indiana Pacers to seal it.
“That was just two games,” James said. “It’s a small sample. Everyone is getting so cracked up about Vegas and keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games. We took care of that business. It was the in-season tournament, we played it, we won it. But that was literally just two games.”
Anthony Davis preached the importance of the Lakers looking inward as individuals in order to be able to bring their best to the group as the team tries to get back on track.
“We still have a lot of basketball left,” Davis said. “But we’re trending in the wrong direction right now. And the last thing we need, especially when guys are out, is to separate and fall apart. So we got to stay together, for sure, and figure it out. We can’t be in our feelings. We can’t be complaining or whatever. We can’t take anything personal.