Getty LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers may have thought they’d found something.
Switching up the starting lineup had worked earlier in the season amid a 3-5 start. But their one-game respite from the growing outside noise ended with a 126-115 loss to the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day leading to some notable comments from LeBron James.
“I don’t think we’re where we want to be to compete versus the top teams,” James said via Spectrum SportsNet on December 26.
Some fans believed the 21st-year star was secretly calling for the Lakers to make a trade.
But James wasn’t throwing anyone under the bus. Nor was he suggesting the Lakers need to make any major changes to a roster that hasn’t been fully healthy since the offseason with injuries to multiple key rotation players, most notably Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent.
Vanderbilt has been back for the last 10 games after missing all but the preseason opener to that point.
Vincent will miss the next six to eight weeks after undergoing knee surgery.
“I think the league’s best teams right now so far is … Minnesota – they pretty much healthy – OKC was pretty much healthy besides [Josh] Giddey. And Boston is … fully healthy,” James said. “I don’t think we’re healthy right now. I don’t think we’re where we want to be to compete versus the top teams until we continue to get better and better; continue to work on our habits.
“We still trying to you know figure our situation out as far as um how we want to continue to attack each game. But we’ll be better.”
LeBron James Reacts to Darvin Ham’s Remarks After Lakers Loss to Celtics
After the game, Ham pointed to the Lakers’ road-heavy schedule in December, as well as the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
“We came back a little lethargic, just coming off a long trip and then the whole Christmas circumstances of the holiday or whatever – early game,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said after the game via NBA.com. “Took us a little bit of time to get going.”
James was in full agreement.
“I agree with Coach Ham, as far as the details,” James said. “When you don’t have much room for error, you have to be detail-oriented. You have to understand each possession. And when you’re able to execute that to close as perfection, then you’re going to give yourself even a better chance to be successful.”
James noted the Lakers defending for a full shot clock only to give up an offensive rebound as something not conducive to their success.
Anthony Davis ‘Phenomenal’, Jayson Tatum ‘Too Elite’
“I thought [Anthony Davis] was … phenomenal,” James said, praising his teammate’s steady performance in an otherwise inconsistent night. “AD’s just been on a tear lately.”
Davis finished with a game and season-high 40 points, adding 13 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. His 41-point showing in the In-Season Tournament championship does not count toward his regular-season stats.
Anthony Davis dropped 40 PTS and 13 REB in a tough #NBAXmas loss to the Celtics 🎄
The eight-time All-Star, Davis, is averaging 31.7 points on 64% true shooting with 11.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 blocks, and 1.1 steals per game in his last seven outings.
James also had lofty praise for Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis.
“I thought defensively we were pretty good at times. The one thing that hurt us versus a team like that: you can’t put them on the free throw line,” James said. “You give Tatum those type of free throws, he’s just too elite. You can’t put him on the free throw line … that was challenging for us.”
Boston attempted 14 free throws in the third quarter alone, and they finished with seven more attempts than the Lakers.
Tatum scored eight of his 25 points in the third quarter, with six points coming on free throws.
Porzingis had 13 points and was 4-for-6 from the charity stripe in the third quarter. James praised Boston’s use of the big man as a “roamer” which forced them into taking, perhaps more threes than they otherwise would have.
The Lakers attempted more than 30 threes for just the 12th time this season, despite an emphasis on shooting more during the preseason, shooting 40.6% on those looks this time.
They rank 28th in threes attempted per game this season.