Before the Lakers took on the Golden State Warriors, head coach Frank Vogel made his latest promise that his group had turned the page. He didn’t quite channel his inner Mike D’Antoni and promise that a new season started now, but he did say that he hasn’t given up on this group. And he doesn’t think they’re ready to lay down, either.
“I think the story of this team is still to be told, and I sense that there is a fresh energy with the trade deadline passing,” Vogel said.
For most of the night against the Warriors, the Lakers showed it. After a disengaged loss to the Portland Trail Blazers where he took zero shots in the fourth quarter, Anthony Davis led the charge on defense, even if he probably could have been more aggressive in the fourth. On a night he became the leading combined playoff and regular-season scorer in NBA history, LeBron James (26 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists) infused the team with enough offensive punch to keep pace, even if it was his late blunder that contributed to them coming up short.
Unfortunately, as has been the case for most of this season, the Lakers’ good moments weren’t quite frequent enough, as they fell 117-115 in a hard-fought defeat, but a defeat nonetheless.
This loss drops the team to 26-31.
