When you don’t have LeBron James or Anthony Davis, your offense is bound to slump sometimes.
That was the story for the Los Angeles Lakers in Sunday’s 104-86 loss to the same-town rival Clippers.
“I think for us during this time, if we’re going to have a shot to win games, we have to play and trust the next guy on our team,” Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma told reporters. “And I don’t think that was the case.”
Kuzma followed a 30-point effort in a win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday with … well, just six vs. the Clippers. And the Lakers scored 115 vs. the Kings. Compare that to Sunday’s meager output.
But hey, that can be life without your two super-duper stars (as well as newcomer Andre Drummond).
That doesn’t make it OK, though, according to Marc Gasol.
“It’s cutting, moving, burning the extra calorie for somebody else,” he said. “Create enough action when you cut that it’s going to force the other team to help. Doing all those little things. Drive sometimes not to score, but drive to create a weakside help and hit the guy in the corner. Things like that, we got to continue to do consistently. I think that we do it sometimes. Sometimes we don’t.”
The Lakers (31-18) continue their seven-game jaunt with a journey to the East at Toronto (well, Tampa) on Tuesday.
