“Every time we made a mistake, they made us pay for it. » JJ Redick sums up the defeat of the Lakers in Inglewood, against the Clippers. Remaining positive, the coach judges that his players fought, remained united and that “it’s a good process for us”.
The problem is that Los Angeles has made a lot of mistakes since the start of the season. LeBron James has been saying it for several years, and again last December: the Lakers cannot afford it.
“Our team is built like this. We have no room for error”, assures the star. “We have no choice. With this team, we must play close to perfect basketball. »
Proof that the Lakers can explode when they are far from their best level: they only have the 12th “Net Rating” in the Western Conference, at -2.6 (points per 100 possessions). Only Utah, New Orleans and Portland are doing worse, while these three franchises do not, unlike Los Angeles, have a positive record.
Impossible to steal matches
Clearly, Los Angeles is certainly in 6th place in its conference (22 wins – 18 losses) but without any room for maneuver. The Lakers have only won six games since the start of the year by 10 points or more. Most of their successes were short-lived, although they lost seven games by more than 20 points!
“You can always look at the schedule and say it’s an easy or difficult piece. Nothing will be easy for our team and I understood that very early in the season”notes the coach. “But that’s okay, we’re going to keep fighting. We have lost 18 matches so we are sixth in the West. We could be higher. There are a few matches that we should have won. We didn't really steal any victories. »
This is where the margin for error is significant. Being able to win matches without being brilliant, or really solid, but with talent, with a simple correct sequence at a moment, which makes the difference. Like the Nuggets did in Orlando this Sunday evening for example, by doing the minimum. Los Angeles doesn't have that luxury.
“We don’t have a big margin of error and we can’t create one,” confirms JJ Redick. “We must insist on playing in the paint, on making the extra pass. We don't have a player who will necessarily cause double holds or be able to eliminate and dismiss the game by going into the paint. Our team is not like that. So we have to do it collectively, with our systems. When we do that, we're really good. »
