lakers had not been in this position since October 20, the last time his basketball team was one win away from the evening. His record was .500.
It was the second game of the regular season.
A lot has changed since then.
In that loss to the Clippers, Russell Westbrook missed all 11 of his shots, Patrick Beverley made only one on seven attempts and four of the five reserves who logged minutes are no longer on the roster.
Yet when the Lakers changed their roster and the energy within the locker room completely flipped around one thing didn’t change.
The Lakers still aren’t at .500.
After winning three games in a row, the Lakers missed a chance to move into a tie for sixth place in the West on Sunday, losing New York Knicks 112-108,
D’Angelo Russell, whose mammoth fourth quarter shutout the Toronto Raptors on Friday, stayed hot on Sunday, making 13 of 19 shots for a season-high 33 points, but was outplayed by former teammate Julius Randle. Gave.
Randle went 33 on 11-of-24 shooting from the field while shooting eight of 11 from the free-throw line, his aggressiveness setting the tone for the Knicks, who were without point guard Jalen Brunson.
And in the fourth quarter, after RJ Barrett’s repeated drives to the basket caused the Lakers trouble, his layup with 2:34 left put the Knicks up by 10 points. Barrett finished with 30 points.
The Lakers came back in the final 20 seconds to make it a one-possession game, but the team could not get a Knicks player to commit a foul on their final possession, allowing 14 seconds to run off the clock.
Another former Laker, Josh Hart, made both free throws to ice the game.
Anthony Davis only scored 17 points, but he grabbed 16 rebounds.
LeBron James returned to the Lakers’ bench after missing the previous two games under the pretext of medical reasons. He was no longer wearing the protective walking boot on his injured right leg.
“Everything is going according to plan,” Hamm said of James’ recovery.
Earlier this week, James posted a video from an undisclosed remote location, joking about the paparazzi as a wild animal whizzed past.
“I went through it with (Kobe Bryant) and Giannis (Antetokounmpo), these guys have a variety of ways, when you’re at that level, you have a variety of ways you can play,” Ham said. Can treat various injuries.” “And it’s good for her to unplug a little, too. Not necessarily to detach, but just to take a little mental break from everything that’s happened over the course of the year. … Enough is enough.”
“So it’s not just about him being healthy, it’s about him being in a good place mentally and spiritually, so when he comes back we’ve got the best version of him.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times,
