They will be just fine.
The Lakers last embarked on a worrying four-game losing streak was in December 2019, when they responded with nine consecutive games. Coincidentally, this winning streak started against the Portland Trail Blazers, which they defeated last night in one of their best defensive performances of the 2020-21 season.
The concern was how the Lakers lost four in a row, which came shortly after Anthony Davis’s Achilles injury. The Lakers lost just 98 points against Brooklyn Nets, who were a defensive opponent, losing by 11. Two nights later, the now emerging (heat is too much) Miami Heat destroyed a 96-94 victory in the 90s style. was followed by an overtime loss to the Washington Wizards, who now won 6 out of 7 for the first time in three seasons. And then the big one: 114-89 ass-whoopin ‘in the hands of Utah Jazz, the best team of the NBA regular season (for now).
If last night wasn’t a mandatory victory for the Lakers, it was close, if not for the sole reason that Davis shouldn’t return for at least a few more weeks. The Lakers had to prove they could navigate without The Brow and did so by keeping the NBA’s 10th-highest scoring attack more than 20 points below their average. Removing Dennis Schröder from the COVID protocol helped immensely, but it mainly signals that the Lakers – even without Davis – have other equipment they can call up defensively that other NBA contenders have yet to prove when needed.
The Lakers allowed Damian Lillard to earn 35 points, but he not only had to work tirelessly (24 field goal attempts) to score what was a high score in the game, but the Lakers allowed only one other Trail Blazer to accumulate more than 11 points: Gary Trent Jr, who scored 19 out of just 8 out of 20 shots (including 2 out of 11 out of three). Without Lillard’s 11 of 24, the Blazers hit 21 of 59 and were under pressure in what looked like every possession.
It doesn’t matter that LeBron James ended the night with 28 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, but his defensive ranking of 83 was a catalyst in Laker’s victory, and he also recorded four steals and three blocks. Offensively, the team received no significant contributions from anyone outside James, Schröder’s 22 points and Montrezl Harrell’s 17 points and nine rebounds off the bench, but if they are stopped defensively, that’s all they need to lead the way.
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Perhaps part of the motivation for the Lakers came just before play time, when AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimović, who played with the 2018-19 LA Galaxy, criticized James for being essentially a political activist and an advocate for change in America. Ibrahimović said in an interview with UEFA for Discovery + on Thursday, that James is “phenomenal” but does not need to play sports and politics at the same time.
“Do what you’re good at,” said Ibrahimović, as if giving advice. “Make the category that you do. I play football because I am the best football player. I don’t do politics. If I were a political politician, I would do politics. This is the first mistake that people make when they become famous and reach a certain status. Stay out of it. Do what you do best because it doesn’t look good. “
James not only responded with his performance, but also addressed Ibrahimović after the game, saying he would not shut up and dribble:
“I will never shut up about the things that are wrong. I preach about my people and I preach about equality, social justice, racism, suppression of voters; things that happen in our community. I will use my platform to continue to shed light on everything that is happening in this country and around the world. There is no way I can limit myself to sports, because I understand how powerful this platform and my voice are. “
And, because the internet will ever find out, here’s a clip of Ibrahimović crediting Muhammad Ali for being a role model for what he did inside and out of boxing. It is the typical revisionist story that people make with Ali (and Martin Luther King Jr and Roberto Clemente, etc.), who was not as loved in his day as he became in retrospect.