A blowout loss to the Houston Rockets leaves the Los Angeles Lakers at 3-5 and doing some soul-searching on how to turn around their rough start to the 2023-24 season.
“I mean, we can’t build cohesion if we don’t have our unity,” LeBron James told reporters after the 124-98 defeat. “It’s as simple as that. It’s just that we’re very exhausted on the injury side.”
The Lakers played Wednesday night without Anthony Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes, Gabe Vincent and Jalen Hood-Schifino due to injuries. They rank among the most injured teams in the NBA less than a month into the season.
Wednesday’s loss was the Lakers’ third in a row, and they’ll need a win in Phoenix on Friday to avoid getting swept on their four-game road trip. James has played at least 35 minutes in five of the team’s eight games this season, a departure from the plan to limit his regular season minutes.
Two of the three games where James didn’t reach the 35-minute mark were blowout losses — not exactly the reason the Lakers were hoping to use to avoid dropping the 38-year-old.
“I think we just need to relax and figure out where the root is of where we’re going to start moving in the right direction,” Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell said. “And I think first being healthy is one. Two, just playing for each other. I think that’s the first start: with that mentality, we’re going to play for each other and just make things easier for each other.”
The Lakers currently rank last in the NBA in three-point percentage (29.6) and are averaging a disappointing 109.0 points per game. Their -7.3 point differential is currently the third worst in the Western Conference behind the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz.
