Patterns aren’t easy to spot when it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers. For all their seeming success with LeBron James headlining their cause relative to their evidently rudderless campaign last season, they remain very much a work in progress. They’re capable of putting up points as quickly as of giving them up — buoyed by bursts of inspiration that enable them to forge ahead, and then deflated by boneheaded plays that have them backpedaling. They perform to potential, until, that is, their Hyde side takes over for all the wrong reasons.
Yesterday was one such roller-coaster ride for the Lakers, and it’s no coincidence that they managed to claim the short end of the stick under largely similar circumstances for the second time in eight days. Perhaps it’s a curse; as with the twin setbacks to the Orlando Magic, their other losses so far in their 2018-19 slate have likewise occurred on or near the weekend. More likely, it’s coincidence from a small sample size that masks intrinsic infirmities. Among other things, they’re turnover-prone because their boldness borne of equal parts resolve and inexperience continually exposes them to challenges that lead either to highlight reels or glaring mistakes.
To be sure, the Lakers have their drive going for them. Against the Magic yesterday, they rallied from a double-digit deficit to tie the match late in the payoff period. Unfortunately, flubbed opportunities on offense combined with missed assignments on defense compelled them to greet the final buzzer with a familiar result. As in their first encounter with the blue and white, the middle quarters proved problematic; they were outscored by 25 during the stretch on both occasions, negating a good start and necessitating a scrambling finish. And when competitiveness isn’t reliant on fundamentals first and foremost, outcomes can be a crapshoot.
The good news is that the Lakers are learning. Under the steady hand of head coach Luke Walton, they’re bent on running a system predicated on doing the same things under the same circumstances so that favorable results can be expected. Even as basketball is as much an art as a science, minimizing the variables is key. They weren’t able to yesterday, what with the Magic giving them varied looks that confounded their defense. They went small when their traditional slotmen got burned on the perimeter, only to then be hammered in the paint for lack of size.
So, yes, pundits are right to relegate the Lakers on the fringes in the crowded West. They have a chance every time out; after all, they have James. Unless and until he gets more help, however, they’ll tantalize and then disappoint. The glass is half full, but it’s also half empty.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
