LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers have taken on the first real challenge of their title defense, losing Saturday 96-94 to the Miami Heat, the third defeat in the past four games since Anthony Davis aggravated his Achilles tendon and suffered a calf strain . in his right leg.
A question for these Lakers has arisen: Should LeBron James do more to help his teammates or should his teammates do more to help James?
“I feel like the last few games that have taken place have put a lot on Bron,” Lakers security guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said after the game. “We already know what we’re going to get out of him. So the rest of us just have to keep playing hard and just play basketball and not worry about anything.”
James scored 19 points on 7-for-21 shots against the Heat (including just 1-for-8 from the 3-point range), good for his worst shooting percentage of the season. He also coughed up a team-high five turnover.
James, after stealing an incoming pass meant for Jimmy Butler with 5.4 seconds left in the game and setting up Alex Caruso for a potential match-binding shot that missed, insisted that his teammates would not have to take any more slack while Davis and point guard Dennis Schroder is sidelined.
“They’re doing their best,” said James. “They are doing their part and more.”
No, James said it is up to him to get LA out of the rough patch it finds itself in, as he has done most of his 18-year career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Heat and now the Lakers. Because of Saturday’s loss, the defending champions came in third place in the standings of the Western Conference.
“I think it all comes down to that, and right now it’s another challenge for me to adjust,” said James. “Not having AD for a long time is something we haven’t had for the past year and a half, and now it’s time for me to adjust again and look at ways I can be even more effective in helping this team play ball games. because that is the sport we are involved in.
“We’re in the winning industry and I’ve always been a winner. So it’s time to click on that.”
James wasn’t the only one struggling to hit the ball against Miami. The Lakers went 1-for-13 from a 3-point range in the fourth quarter and didn’t fare that much better for the game, with 13 of 45 tries (28.9%) from the outside.
“We’re trying to help him the best we can, and we want to do it as perfectly as possible,” said Caldwell-Pope, one of only three Lakers to get more shots than he missed against the Heat. “We try to help him, we try not to make too many mistakes when we are on the floor with him or even play a play with him, just to give him some help. We ask Bron a lot; he gives us a lot with each game.
“It’s up to us in terms of role players and ‘next man up’ mentality, we have to be ready and locked up.”
Caruso, who is 10 years younger than James, said it is a “deliberate thing” not to burn out James in February with a championship run scheduled for spring and early summer.
“I mean, LeBron is the best player on our team, and night in and night out you see the attention he gets because he is,” said Caruso. “With the guys we released, teams will compete against him. He has a great basketball spirit and he will do his part to open guys up to great plays.”
For James, who backed up his team by saying, ‘Every time we lie on the floor, we try to protect each other and put each other on the floor every night,’ there was one minor criticism of a teammate he did share.
Trailing two points with 1.4 seconds to go, he said he wished Caruso had taken a few steps back to launch a 3 and go for the win.
“I think the only bad thing about it is that he shot a long 2,” James said of Caruso’s 7-foot shot hitting the leading edge at the buzzer. “I wish he had shot a 3 and, make or miss, I’ll live with that.”