The Los Angeles Lakers have lost four-straight games after opening the season with a record of 24-3. During three of those four losses, they were outscored by their opponent in the fourth quarter. Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, for example, outpaced the Lakers by five on Christmas Day after entering the final period with a tie score. According to Anthony Davis, some of that is due to a lack of focus down the stretch coming out of timeouts.
Davis says there have been players coming out of timeouts in the fourth quarter who have been confused about the play they were supposed to run during this four-game skid. The six-time NBA All-Star says Los Angeles will need to clean that up if they are going to get back in the win column tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers.
“Pretty frustrating,” Davis replied when asked about the Lakers late-game execution on the offensive end over the last four contests. “We know we’re a better team than that. We have guys in the wrong spot. Guys coming out confused on a play call.
“So we just have to be better in that department. Especially late game. A lot of games we lost have been late, and we can’t afford for guys to mess up a play especially after a timeout.”
🎥 “It feels good. Real good.” -AD on his knee pic.twitter.com/3orXuBYp1j
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 27, 2019
Davis is averaging 28 points, nine rebounds three assists and nearly three blocks this season. After missing the Indiana Pacers loss due to injury, A.D. has scored 30.6 per night throughout the last three. During a 136-113 Lakers win on December 6 over Portland, Davis went for 39 points in 32 minutes.
If the Lakers big man can do something like that again tonight against Damian Lillard and company, L.A. would have a great shot of getting back on track. The last time they won was on December 15 when they earned a five-point victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
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