SACRAMENTO — The question LeBron James was asked after the Lakers’ 120-107 road loss to the Sacramento Kings wasn’t just applicable to his team, but it was relevant considering how Wednesday night’s game went.
When a team has an offensive action or set that is leading to good looks, even if they’re missing shots, how can you stay disciplined to keep trying that?
To James, who is in his 21st NBA season, moving away from actions that create what the team is looking for, even if it’s not resulting in immediate success during games, is a trend he’s noticed over the last few seasons.
“That’s pretty much our league though,” he said. “No one ever sticks to what’s working. People want to get cute and try to try new things but our league has kind of always been like that over the last few [years].
“When I came into the league, it was like if one thing was working, we’re going to milk that until you stop it. And even if you stop it, we may go back to it. But that’s just how the league is now.”
And it was also an issue for the Lakers against the Kings.
Moving away from successful offensive actions wasn’t the only or main reason the Lakers lost. They became too careless with the ball in the third quarter, turning it over six times as part of a quarter they lost 28-17.
The Kings grabbed timely offensive rebounds for second-chance points. The Lakers’ help defense and closeouts against Sacramento’s shooters were lackluster for significant stretches. Their top three scorers – James, Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell – also missed looks they typically make.
But they didn’t help themselves by going away from what was successful, at least for stretches.
The offensive action that produced Austin Reaves’ first 3-pointer – a pitch action into a Russell-Davis pick-and-roll with Reaves setting a screen for James on the weak side before popping out above the arc for a 3-pointer – didn’t appear to be used again after the…
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