The Los Angeles Lakers have hit a stretch that goes far beyond the description of the traditional rough path. The purple and gold have been on the wrong side of an almost endless list of blowouts in recent weeks, with their most recent result the most devastating to date.
Matched up against a Miami Heat team that had been struggling to find the .500 line, the Lakers were thoroughly dominated, falling 134-93.
LeBron James finally buried a three, and Max Christie and Gabe Vincent combined for 20 points off the bench. That was about the end of the positive notes from the game, however, as the Lakers fell behind early and never recovered.
Following the Lakers' fourth blowout loss in seven games, franchise player Anthony Davis pleaded with his teammates to stick together and not allow this stretch to break them apart.
Anthony Davis: "We can't separate. We gotta stay together as a team, as a unit, and make sure that this doesn't turn into something that we don't want."
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) December 5, 2024
It's an alarming comment from Davis, but that level of transparency and accountability has arguably been missing from the Lakers' locker room in recent seasons.
Anthony Davis encourages Lakers to stick together through adversity
Los Angeles has lost six of its past eight games, going from 10-4 to 12-10. That stretch began with a one-point loss to the Orlando Magic, but recent results have been less kind regarding games remaining competitive.
The Lakers have since fallen 127-102 to the Denver Nuggets, 127-100 to the Phoenix Suns, 109-80 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and 134-93 to Miami.
According to Basketball-Reference, the last two results have produced the worst two-game stretch in franchise history.
The Lakers have been outscored by 70 points over their last 2 games—that's the worst point differential over ANY 2-game stretch in franchise history. 📉
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) December 5, 2024
🔗 https://t.co/mGbLl1z2Kg pic.twitter.com/Gq6QsRUYPH
Having lost by at least 25 points on a shockingly regular basis, the Lakers are seemingly in shambles. They've put together road wins over the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz, and are a forgivable 2-3 over the past five games, but the valleys have been far more noteworthy than the peaks.
As such, it's understandable for the franchise player to be concerned to the point of publicly imploring his team to stick together at a time that could break them.
Los Angeles is still over .500 at 12-10, which gives it a significantly softer cushion to fall back on. The comfort of playing above-.500 basketball is becoming less of a crutch with every passing game, however, leaving the Lakers with a daunting reality to accept.
At the rate they're playing, the positive momentum they secured by starting the season at 10-4 will be squandered and the Play-In Tournament will become a tragically realistic target.
Los Angeles' next game will be on the road against the streaking Atlanta Hawks, which have won five consecutive games. Defeating a team that has momentum on its side would go a long way toward positioning the Lakers to turn things around, especially with the 8-14 Portland Trail Blazers coming to town on Dec. 8.
It's only December, but the Lakers are officially in must-win mode as they look to end their run of poor form and silence the well-founded criticisms of their blowout losses.