Snakebitten Lakers

Considering how the 2023-24 campaign has unfolded, avid followers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) would not be wrong to argue that the Lakers are snakebitten. With cornerstones LeBron James and Anthony Davis largely available and on pace to notch the most number of games in a single season since donning purple and gold, the In-Season Tournament champions should have been primed to claim an outright playoff berth. Instead, they appear poised to go through the wringer simply to get the last spot.

For a while there, it seemed as if the Lakers would overcome their post-IST swoon and ride on momentum to go up to as high as sixth in the highly competitive West. Heading into a crucial match against the Timberwolves at the start of the week, however, they found themselves having to make do without James; the latter had been under the weather for the last fortnight, and flu-like symptoms finally caught up with him. Meanwhile, Davis suited up, but lasted just 24 seconds short of one quarter after being hit in the face and getting his eye poked by Kyle Anderson. The result: a double-digit loss that jeopardized their bid to improve on their ninth-place standing.

To add insult to injury, the Lakers then lost to the 10th-running Warriors the other day. Davis was actually at Crypto.com Arena in a valiant attempt to play, but he had to be ruled out due to lingering effects of Anderson’s uncalled foul. James did manage to burn rubber, but he didn’t even get to warm up after having arrived at the venue a mere hour before tipoff. Given his condition, he did well to put up 33 (on 22 shots), seven and 11. That said, he failed to make a positive influence on the result: yet another double-digit loss that could conceivably have them trading places with the Warriors (who hold the tiebreaker).

It bears noting that the Lakers did try their best against both the Timberwolves and the Warriors, but it clearly wasn’t good enough. Theirs is a top-heavy roster that collapses in the absence of either James or Davis. And, yes, they are often their worst enemies. The other day, for instance, they hung around until late in the third quarter, only to be undone by their lack of esprit de corps. They were down by a manageable seven when James left the floor for his customary rest with three and a half minutes left in the period. A subsequent 12-0 run by the blue and yellow with him on the bench all but made the outcome a foregone conclusion.

In the aftermath of the defeat, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham made mention of the NBA being “a make or miss league.” And he’s right; his charges lost because they couldn’t keep up with the ridiculous shooting of the Warriors. That said, he did them no favors by continually employing uneven lineups that defy logic. Take the aforementioned sequence that sealed their fate; for some reason, he relied on three point guards to hold the fort — a recipe for disaster. Considering that it was the first time they shared the court, the ill-advised one-on-one forays were, perhaps, to be expected.

Now, the Lakers need to close out their regular season with wins on the road and, at the same time, cross their fingers the Warriors will drop at least one contest to avoid dropping to 10th. It’s stress they have to deal with, but stress they could have avoided altogether. And while James has underscored the importance of fitness over seeding, their situation begs the question: What if they’re not healthy still?

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.