After their disappointing 128-115 loss to the lottery-bound New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James questioned his team's sense of urgency at this point in the season with a potential playoff spot hanging in the balance.
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"How many know what's at stake if you've never been there?" James asked rhetorically of qualifying for the postseason after the game, via ESPN. "I'm playing devil's advocate, you know? It's kind of a fine line when you talk about that, because when you've never been there or know what it takes to actually shoot for something like that, sometimes you're afraid to get uncomfortable.
"So you got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. So I'm not saying that's what we are as a whole. It kind of looks that way at times, that sometimes we're afraid to be uncomfortable and kind of get out of our comfort zone and kind of, you know, have that sense of urgency from the jump, and not be afraid to actually go out and fail to succeed. So, I mean we have, what? Twenty-three games left. We'll see what happens."
Now, a few days removed from the frustration of the loss, Luke Walton has shared his thoughts. Essentially, the Lakers coach isn't concerned. Though he recognizes this is a new experience for the young players on the team, he noted how experience is the best teacher.
Luke Walton on LeBron's "how do you know if you've never been there before" comment after last game: "Experience is the best way to learn. It is new for some of the guys. But I expect us for the majority of this time to play with the urgency and the will that it takes. ..."
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) February 25, 2019
Luke, continued: " It’s definitely something as a group, being a new team together and relying on a lot of young players, that’s new. We’re learning. ...It won’t be perfect, but we’ll continue to come out and get better and we’ll see if we can’t make some noise down the stretch."
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) February 25, 2019
We won't have to wait long to see if Walton's belief in the team responding to adversity and a new situation is well-founded. LeBron and the Lakers will be back in action on Monday night when they travel to Memphis for a showdown with the Grizzlies (8 p.m. ET -- Watch on FuboTV with NBA League Pass add-on), which at this point in the season is pretty much a must-win. The Lakers are three games back of the eighth seed in the West with 23 games to play.
They can't afford many more losses at this point, but especially not to teams like the Grizzlies, who are well into tank mode. Even with the struggles the Lakers have had at times this season, this is a game they should win without too much trouble.
