The Los Angeles Lakers have had a couple of days to lick their wounds and examine what went wrong while getting outplayed in a 126-115 loss to the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day. While the Lakers battled back to make the game competitive after falling behind by a large margin, they had several deficiencies that resulted in the loss.
Boston outplayed the Lakers in several statistical categories, and head coach Darvin Ham said they need to limit their self-inflicted wounds, particularly turnovers that lead to transition opportunities for their opponents.
Via Lakers Nation:
“Some of our self-inflicted wounds. We had a really good film session today talking about our transition defense. They put a lot of pressure on you, dead balls, missed shots, made shots, doesn’t matter. They play with a lot of pace and a lot of force. So us really having a sense of energy with that first line of defense, our transition defense, and then also not being disciplined,” Ham said.
“We fouled them a lot, they had 28 free-throw attempts. So the fouling and then those guys getting timely offensive rebounds and second-chance points. So those two things right there, just the details. We kept stressing the details in the film session and on the practice floor. Just us not getting bored with the details and playing with the energy and effort and discipline night in and night out, no matter what happens. We can live with ourselves if we’re competitive and playing a smart brand of basketball.”
Los Angeles will get a respite from the tough schedule it has had lately when it hosts the Charlotte Hornets (7-21) on Thursday. After that, it has back-to-back road games this weekend against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have the best record in the Western Conference, and the New Orleans Pelicans.
