Los Angeles Lakers Still Struggling Minus LeBron & AD

The Los Angeles Lakers inconsistent form without LeBron James and Anthony Davis continued on Monday night against the Knicks.

With three wins in the last five games, the Los Angeles Lakers entered the game against New York with confidence. A few days before, the Los Angeles Lakers upset the Brooklyn Nets with a 25 point win.

However, they fell 11 – 96 to the New York Knicks in a match in which some familiar problems manifested themselves once again.

They committed a season-high 25 turnovers on Monday. With nine 20-plus turnover games this season, they lead the NBA in giveaways. 

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The biggest culprit against the Knicks was Dennis Schroder, with a team-high 5. As well as that, new center Andre Drummond had four. LA’s other three starters, Markieff Morris, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma had three each.

“Really poor passing, some bad decisions, and some of it, you have to credit the defense. But as good as we were offensively two nights ago, we were just as bad tonight — and it’s disappointing,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel. 

“We had 25 turnovers, and we got our shot blocked nine times, OK? Which we view as turnovers as well. So, definitely not good enough on the offensive end tonight.”

The Lakers will have to find a way to play consistently without Davis and LeBron if they want to contend this year. Markieff Morris says the team must be better as a collective.

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“We just got to, all of us as a collective group have to be better at taking care of the ball,” said Morris. 

“Obviously we don’t have Bron, who led the league in assists last year, to make plays for us. So that’s going to be more magnified. And I think if we change that, we can definitely be a lot better right now.”

However, last year’s championship was built upon the backs of those two stars. It remains to be seen what solutions this team can find without them.