The Los Angeles Lakers’ inconsistent type continued on Friday with a 130-112 loss at dwelling to the Brooklyn Nets. After taking a six-point lead into the break, they have been outscored by 24 factors within the second half, which prompted some sharp phrases from head coach Darvin Ham.
“Discuss concerning the story of two totally different halves,” Ham said. “That first half is what we’re working in direction of… After which the inconsistency confirmed up and reared its head within the second half… We have now to resolve which staff we’re gonna be.”
“It is over for the justifications,” Ham continued. “We acquired to play basketball.”
After a powerful begin to the season, which culminated in successful the inaugural In-Season Event in December, the Lakers have largely struggled. They’re 7-13 for the reason that IST championship sport, with a number of four-game dropping streaks throughout this stretch. There have been constructive flashes, together with wins over the red-hot Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in latest weeks, however they have not been in a position to construct on these performances.
The final time they received greater than two video games in a row was early December, and Friday evening’s loss to the Nets was a microcosm of their points.
Within the first half the ball was popping (20 assists on 26 subject objectives and simply 4 turnovers), they dominated within the paint (13-of-18 within the restricted space and 32 paint factors) and knocked down open 3s (8-of-18). There was none of that within the second half. Their offense was a catastrophe, and since they weren’t locked in on the opposite finish, they have been ultimately run out of the health club.
Maybe probably the most damning facet of the defeat was that their physique language was so unhealthy as issues have been falling aside that Doc Rivers even made notice of it throughout the broadcast. They went from being on high of the world to down within the dumps within the span of some hours.
With the loss, the Lakers fell again underneath .500 at 21-22, and are clinging to the tenth and closing Play-In Event spot. On the shut of Friday’s motion they’re half a sport forward of the Eleventh-place Houston Rockets and 1.5 video games up on the Twelfth-place Golden State Warriors.
