NBA Game Action: 12/16/2018

Tfor3 · Dec 17, 2018

zeeshan2 said: ↑

Mavs lose again
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To the Kings. Lol.

tinman · Dec 17, 2018

Tfor3 said: ↑

To the Kings. Lol.
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The Kings are legit this year

Tfor3 · Dec 17, 2018

tinman said: ↑

The Kings are legit this year
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Maybe so BUT, they're the kings. Lol

Os Trigonum · Dec 17, 2018

KingLeoric said: ↑

Dekker 20/5/4 Lebron 13/6/3
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Sam Dekker effect. Landmark game for Lebrawn

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/12/17/lebron-james-turns-rare-dud-blowout-loss-wizards

LeBron James turns in a rare dud in blowout loss to the Wizards

By Roman Stubbs
December 17 at 6:00 AM

LeBron James didn’t reach double figures until the final minutes of the third quarter on Sunday night, just as beer vendors shouted last call and the first fans at Capital One Arena trickled out toward the exits. James’s Los Angeles Lakers trailed the Washington Wizards by 24 at that point. It was ugly enough for planet’s best player to sit out the entire fourth quarter, leaning back and relaxing in his seat on the sideline, only rising to his feet when the Lakers’ reserves made a positive play in garbage time.

James also sat and watched John Wall polish off a 40-point, 14-assist performance in the Wizards’ 128-110 win, but disappointment still lingered in the building. Not only did James turn in his worst regular season scoring performance in his 16 years playing at Washington — and in front of another road crowd heavily dotted with his yellow jerseys at that — it was a rare dud by the Lakers on the second night of back-to-back road games.

“We’re a team built on energy and depth, and we didn’t have either tonight,” said James, who shot just 5-for-16 from the field and missed both of his three-point attempts and half of his six free throw attempts. He had more turnovers (4) then assists (3) on a night when the Lakers turned the ball over 22 times. James also turned in a -21 just a night after registering a triple-double in a win at Charlotte. The Lakers entered Sunday’s game 5-1 in the second-game of back-to-back sets this season, but Sunday presented another challenging leg for a team that has played seven of its last eight on the road. It was compounded on Sunday with an earlier tip-off, at 6 p.m.

“It’s just routine. Just your whole routine is always a little messed up [with back-to-back games], with the way we got in, it’s the NBA schedule. I don’t think we’re the only team that will have a back-to-back like this,” James said. “You just try to find a way. Obviously tonight, we didn’t have our way.”

James said the team’s sapped energy-level may have been due to a late arrival into Washington on Saturday night, and an overflowing crowd at Capital One Arena did not see a competitive showing from the onset, nothing close to the thriller earlier this week when Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics came in and outlasted the Wizards, 130-125, in overtime. This time, Wall dominated and put it away with 28 points and eight assists in the first half alone.

“There’s not a lot of good to take from that, other than the lesson that if you don’t show up to play in the NBA, you will not win. Whether it was a back-to-back, I don’t know what it was, we did not have the proper energy to win an NBA game tonight,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said.

This was nothing like the electric performances James has turned in over the previous few seasons at Capital One Arena . He barely moved the needle on Sunday. James had just nine points at the half, often to deferring to a sluggish supporting cast that was again without injured forward Brandon Ingram and big man JaVale McGee, who was a late scratch due to illness. Forward Michael Beasley, a D.C. native who has been away from the team at times this season due to his mother’s illness, sat with the team in his street clothes during the second half.

James sat near him for the entire fourth quarter, surrendering to the most forgettable performance in the city in his career. Over two third quarter possessions , he missed two free throws as a large contingent of Lakers fans gasped, as well as a layup.

Walton tried to experiment with different personnel and different sets at times — the Lakers even used a box-and-one zone at one point, which Wall said later he hadn’t seen since high school. But while it was difficult to identify progress, James pointed to a few different bright spots, including the play of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (25 points) and rookie Moritz Wagner (12 points) off the bench. He remained upbeat in the locker room afterward, assuring reporters that this wouldn’t become a trend during the rest of his first season in Los Angeles.

“We’ve gotten better every week since the season started, and every month,” James said. “We continue to do that, when April comes, we’ll be right where we want to be.”
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NBA Game Action: 12/16/2018

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