LeBron James horrified with Los Angeles Lakers: "Our defense is disgusting"

With LeBron James experiencing his worst shooting slump from outside since his rookie season, Los Angeles Lakers coach, JJ Redick, expressed doubts about the feasibility of the veteran star achieving his goal of playing all 82 games of the season.

"I'm not sure if that's the best for him and for us, but if he feels good, then he should play," said Redick after the game in which James matched his season-low with 10 points on 4-for-16 shooting during the Lakers' 109-80 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. "But we obviously want to manage that in the best way possible."

James missed all four three-point attempts against the Timberwolves, extending his drought to 0-for-19 in his last four games, his worst streak since missing 24 consecutive threes between December 26, 2003, and January 13, 2004, according to ESPN Research.

On Monday, James played his 1,800th combined regular season and playoff game, becoming the player with the most appearances in history, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,797). Approaching his 40th birthday this month, James did not commit to playing every game this season. "It's a goal, but we'll see," he commented. "It's something I'm not going to discuss right now."

James's performance has been below expectations. In Monday's game, he only made 25% of his shots, marking his sixth consecutive game shooting less than 45%, his longest streak since 2004 when he didn't surpass that percentage in 11 straight games as a rookie. "It's everything," James replied when asked about what frustrates him in his game. "It's the rhythm. I feel out of rhythm in the last three or four games." When asked what he will do to get his shot back, James was clear: "Work. Just work. That's it."

Not only did he struggle with his outside shooting, but James also led the team with six turnovers and had the worst plus-minus on the team, with a -28 in 31 minutes. So far this season, the Lakers have been outscored by 111 points when James has been on the court, the team's worst record. As James has faced difficulties, the Lakers have also suffered in their performance, losing five of their last seven games. The 80 points they scored against Minnesota were the franchise's lowest since January 22, 2017, when they lost 122-73 to the Dallas Mavericks.

Tough Times

"I haven't seen the team play like we did earlier in the season," noted Redick. "I have to spend all day tomorrow with my coaching staff trying to figure out how we get back to that." Anthony Davis, on the other hand, also had his worst night of the season, managing only 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting, in addition to 11 rebounds and 5 assists. Davis stated that Lakers players are crowding the spaces on offense. "We have to get our spacing back," he explained. "We're too close together when someone is trying to penetrate. When the shooters are in their spots, there's a teammate right underneath. So the spacing is bad."

With a quarter of the regular season completed, the Lakers have a record of 12-9, ranking eighth in the Western Conference. Redick described the Lakers' season so far as "uneven and inconsistent." Both James and Davis were more direct in their criticisms. "Sometimes we look like a team that can compete with anyone, and other times we look like a team that won't do anything this season. So we have to decide what kind of team we want to be for the rest of the season," commented Davis. James added, "Our offense is a disaster right now."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, LeBron James, horrorizado con Los Angeles Lakers: "Nuestra defensa es asquerosa"