National Basketball Association habitués who believe the Lakers to be on track for a successful title defense might want to rethink their position. Not that the stalwarts of the purple and gold aren’t capable of taking the measure of the rest of the league. To the contrary, their roster makeup — shored up during the shortest offseason in the history of pro hoops — appears even better equipped to contend for the hardware the second time around. Unfortunately, their showing of late has been inconsistent at best; in proving unable to continually translate potential to practice, they have looked not just vulnerable, but vulnerable against supposed also-rans.
To be sure, the Lakers remain in the NBA’s upper echelon; their travails notwithstanding, they’re just one game off the top spot in the Western Conference. And, yes, they still have nearly three-quarters of the season to right the ship, not to mention allow vital cogs Anthony Davis and Alex Caruso to recover from injury. On the other hand, they’ve become alarmingly unstable, and from the get-go; extremely slow starts have compelled them to play catch-up ball against supposedly inferior opposition. Yesterday, for instance, they barely overcame an otherwise-slumping Thunder following an uphill climb that left them gassed in the end.
Consider this: Not since November 1991 have the Lakers been involved in three straight matches that required overtime to settle. And, in each of the contests, they had to rely on the heroics of Most Valuable Player candidate LeBron James to get them over the hump. Heading into the 2020-21 season, their depth was supposed to allow him to rest for significant stretches and preserve his 36-year-old body for the playoffs. Instead, his minutes have trended in the wrong direction in the face of their struggles. They simply had no choice but to play him 46, 43, and 41 minutes.
James has put on a brave face in his post-mortems. He says he doesn’t get tired, and, for the most part, he has delivered in the clutch. There’s also a reason he hasn’t sat out a single outing so far; he’s gunning for a fifth MVP award to underscore a point. On the other hand, Father Time is undefeated, and, for all his protestations, he’s not invincible. And if he’s exerting effort just to lead the Lakers to victory in Regular Season Game Number 26 of 72, there’s a problem that needs to be addressed, and fast. Else, he may find himself meeting one objective at the expense of another.
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.
