DETROIT — You can set a watch to have LeBron James huffing and puffing, putting everyone he shares a jersey on high alert, sending everyone in an office with a big window into scramble mode.
Everyone around him is panicking like Godzilla, trampling buildings and putting their careers and livelihoods at risk. One wrong move, one look from James, and you’re fired or sent to the unknown, unknown in the NBA.
An embarrassing 44-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers tends to elicit this level of reaction. That didn’t appear to be the case for Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham, or even the rest of the team two days later.
“It’s LJ; it’s the Lakers,” Ham said before Wednesday’s game against the Pistons. “You know, people always want to exaggerate things. In my opinion, it’s just that he’s a passionate competitor and no one was happy with our performance. “There. “
He was not wrong. It feels scary because this is the Lakers and, of course, because this is James. They’re 11-9 after a 133-110 loss to the feisty Oklahoma City Thunder, but it’s easier to call out code red when five of those games have been by double digits .
Hamm pointed to injuries to key rotational players in and out of the lineup. It’s difficult to apply how the absence of Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura and Jared Vanderbilt led to a shaky start.
Hachimura suffered a concussion early in the season and then had surgery on Friday to repair a broken nose. Vincent suffered knee swelling that limited him to four games. Vanderbilt has yet to appear in the regular season despite progress in treating heel bursitis.
Even for the top-heavy Lakers, missing three rotation players at every position on the floor is bound to have an impact. The “key performance indicators” Ham likes to evaluate after 20 games are a little off because he doesn’t have a complete complement.
“We lost Rui at a very sensitive time when he was playing so well,” Ham said. “That’s the most important thing, we try to be as complete as possible … and we’re going to keep moving forward.”
James didn’t say what his problem was, and he was often vague when he wanted to get his message across. But their shooting is terrible, ranking last in three-point attempts and field goal percentage, and 28th in field goal percentage (33.9%).
That could be a key performance indicator in a blowout loss, and the inability to even rely on shooting puts undue pressure on James to create offense.
The Lakers need rim pressure, which is why the idea of adding Bulls guard Zach LaVine seems natural. Having him as a third scorer, an inconsistent shooting but offensive guard, would take the pressure off and make the defense uncomfortable, creating open shots for some of the Lakers’ average shooters.
Like James’ huffing and puffing, there’s another dance performed every year to protect him from overuse and unnecessary fatigue: surround him with more playmakers; give teams more focus on Anthony Davis ; Or this season, reduce his playing time so he can rejuvenate or even just play in key moments.
James worked very hard last season to break the all-time scoring record, but soon after, he received a bill due to his health issues, causing him to miss the game for an extended period of time. The Lakers can’t afford for that to happen this season, but inconsistency has been a hallmark of most teams expected to be contenders this season over the long term.
Milwaukee is still adjusting to the departure of Jrue Holiday and the addition of Damian Lillard, especially on defense. They have turned things around, winning eight of nine games, but that will continue to be a problem while new coach Adrian Griffin works to address it.
Even if the Clippers bring in James Harden, he might be too old and unfit to really make an impact. Golden State couldn’t make the most obvious decisions, like retaining hot-shot Moses Moody late in games, and now must deal with injuries to Chris Paul and Gary Payton II.
The champion Denver Nuggets are dealing with what every defending champion has to deal with — internal malaise — as well as the return of Jamal Murray.
Perhaps that perspective is why James was energized before Wednesday’s game and finished with 25 points (many of them easy dunks) in 29 minutes of action, along with eight rebounds and three assists. Davis and D’Angelo Russell shouldered the heavy responsibility, with Russell scoring a season-high 35 points, hitting 5 three-pointers and dishing out 9 assists.
Russell seemed to have a zen-like attitude about the injury and the night that followed. He can’t go downhill in the half-court offense, but the 3-point shot is a solid option on hot nights.
“That guy’s absence may not matter today, and that’s because I’m ready,” Russell said. “This league is about opportunity and having the right mentality to be successful in the right place. I’ve learned over the years that it’s about preparing yourself in the best way possible to have a great night.”
Now, it’s easy to dance around the lifeless Pistons, who are on a franchise-record 15th straight losing streak — after all, the Wizards were beaten by 19 points the other night and the rebuilding franchise is going through An unwinnable battle. In November, it won just four games since the last All-Star break.
Even though the Pistons were in the Victor Wembunyama sweepstakes after Cade Cunningham underwent shin surgery early last season, it’s hard to be that bad in such a long time. But this iteration actually got off to a strong start, taking a huge 2-1 lead against the Portland Trail Blazers before collapsing at home to start this upward spiral.
this return Bojan Bogdanović, who has been out since preseason with a right calf strain, should help space the floor around Cunningham and add some desperation scoring, but their rebuild has suffered. A serious obstacle has been reached. Once failure enters your building, it’s difficult — almost impossible — to get it out when general manager Troy Weaver comes in and legitimately ends the Blake Griffin era with a sledgehammer.
Pistons head coach Monty Williams said briefly after Monday’s loss that his players didn’t respect the Pistons’ uniforms because they lacked the fight and unwillingness to compete. Hamm isn’t in the process of a serious rebuild and has the ability to take a different approach.
His own life experiences as a player and assistant coach have made him more optimistic.
“Coaches around me were talking down to their players in a negative way,” Hamm said. “Insults rarely make you improve. You can address things you could do better, but focus on the positives. Let everyone know that it’s okay to fail. You don’t want to keep failing.
“But if you fail after trying it, then you know you learned something from the first try that hopefully will set you up to be successful on the next try. So just try to focus on solution-based. Again , I just never believed, quote unquote, to call people out. “I call facts facts. “
The Pistons are struggling and only they can get out of it, it’s a bigger hole to climb and young players don’t have a lot of sweat equity at this level. It can be said that the Lakers are in the middle of the pack, but expectations are higher due to the number of stars and the limited time one star has to physically play.
“It was constructive criticism,” James said of the early film sessions. “We took that to heart and applied it to the game. We responded well and we played better.”
James reminded reporters that the Lakers have only played 19 games this season, not even a quarter. It’s so masterful that he can sound the alarm and lower the temperature in one breath.
He’s been through too many regular seasons to really get upset about one game, but he knows when he has the chance to draw eyes and ears and grab everyone’s attention as the schedule allows.
Almost like I planned it, even if he didn’t.