“The Lakers stink, plain and simple…. The Lakers are not a good team. They have zero athletic ability… The Lakers are not any good.” said Charles Barkley on the NBA on TNT. The Lakers led by LeBron James took a brutal hit in Texas, losing 118-97 to the Dallas Mavericks. What made it sting even more? The Mavs were without both Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Despite that, LA’s defense was nowhere to be found, letting Dallas shoot a blazing 52.3% from the field and 47.4% from three.
The Mavs were also on a five-game losing streak coming into this one, so yeah, this loss was pretty hard to swallow. For the Lakers, it’s the kind of game that makes you wonder what went wrong. The Lakers just couldn’t lock down on defense, letting the Mavs get easy 3-pointers, especially off dribble drives. That gave Dallas the chance to grow their lead in the second half. Meanwhile, LA struggled from deep, hitting just 11 of 35 attempts.
The King had to let his teammates know. He did not mince his words. The 20x All-Star said “Just another night for us, you know, not that very good offensively. We didn’t shoot the ball well. We missed a lot of shots at the rim and they they countered it.” Bron opened up about their struggles, particularly with shooting. “Oh, mean, when we’re not shooting the ball, well from the perimeter, those layups can be discouraged, especially because we’re so well with attacking, attacking the paint, getting to the free-throw line,” he said.