The Lakers‘ struggles in the second half of games are causing problems for the team, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes. Los Angeles has been outscored by 83 points in the third quarter of its 13 contests, the worst mark in the league, according to Buha.
The club led Minnesota at halftime of Friday’s game 49-44, then lost the third quarter 40-12. The result was a disappointing 107-83 home loss.
“What we can’t do is, one, point the finger,” Anthony Davis said. “You know, ‘It was you.’ ‘It was you.’ ‘It was you.’ ‘This play was you.’ Like, we got to stay together. And we’ll stay together. But also, we got to learn from the film. And so the film is going to be big for us to have another heart-to-heart about these type of games. We hate feeling this way.
“Obviously, if we lose — we’re going to lose games; everybody loses games. But doing it the right way. Having a team actually beat us, not beating ourselves. And those are the frustrating ones, when we beat ourselves.”
Here are some other notes from the Western Conference:
- Any Mavericks players who came in contact with Bulls center Nikola Vucevic during the team’s game on Wednesday have been tested for COVID-19, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News tweets. The tests returned negative. Vucevic tested positive for coronavirus just one day after the game, prompting some Mavericks players to receive precautionary tests.
- The Spurs have been using the fast break as a secret weapon, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News writes. San Antonio has a young, guard-heavy team, allowing them to play in transition and put pressure on teams to recover defensively. The club holds just a 4-8 record through 12 games, nevertheless.
- The pressure continues to increase for the young Rockets, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle opines. Houston lost its 10th straight game on Friday, dropping a 104-92 home contest to the Blazers. The team owns the league’s second-worst record at 1-11.
9 of the Rockets 11 losses so far have been relatively close games, losing by between 1 and 13 points. And most of those were because of turnovers and missed free throws.
The only bad teams they’ve lost to have been Minnesota and Detroit. Light the fuse!
9 of their losses by 10 or more!!!
It’s 8, not 9. Three of which were by exactly 10 points, two by 12 points, and one by 13.
The only huge blowout came at the hands of Utah.
What’s the big deal. Nobody expected the rockets to do much this year even the rockets themselves. Now to say they don’t have a bright future with all the picks they have and jalen green locked up would be false
sorry, Bub, I must have been including tonites game
Lakers are a step slower than Wolves
As I said before, Lakers need to replace the old legs with young legs
If Anthony Edwards were drafted this year, who would be No 1 overall pick? Which pick is he supposed to be drafted?
Rockets are better off continuing the rebuild. Move Woods now while his value is sky high (TD). This draft has nice bigs in top 10. Keep building thru the draft. Green is for real and only 19. Not a Porter fan. He’s more a combo guard. He’d be best as third guard. I’d be looking for a pass first PG with Green on wing. Two picks in top 20 will bring in good talent. A top 4-5 pick is another starter, star potential player.
I would try to trade Wood for Coby White and a pick. A White, Green, Porter backcourt would be nice. Use this year’s pick on Holmgren or Banchero.
I take Banchero he’s for real, excellent 4. For today’s game and big. Holmgren needs yrs is too thin right now. I would not take him unless I commit to waiting 4 yrs.