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LOS ANGELES – The first team of LeBron James in Miami started 8-8. His second round at Cleveland started 5-7.
The season was not canceled after any of these starts and parades and confetti followed. But the correlation is not a causal link, and the first season of the rest of the Lakers' life could be as messed up as Magic Johnson seemed to think.
Even without Kawhi Leonard, the Toronto Raptors staged a home invasion at Staples Center on Sunday night. They were 41-10 in the first 9:39. Serge Ibaka had 20 points before the Lakers 10, and he hit his first 14 shots and scored 15 for 17.
James and Luke Walton, coach for now, have pointed out that the Lakers have won the second, third and fourth periods, a formula that works at Wimbledon but not in sports where they keep a total score.
An insistent fourth-quarter rally, with James on the bench, forced the Lakers to respect themselves, but many taillights were already on the highway, and the Lakers are now 4-6 years after the 121-107 attack. against their heritage. .
"We need to improve at the transitional defense level, communicate more effectively," said Kyle Kuzma. "When someone leads us, we need to know where everyone is, where is the help. We really underestimated how fast they play. "
The Raptors had to miss 14 of the 21 fourth quarter throws to fall to 50% of the ground. Time and time again, they sliced through the Lakers, with Pascal Siakam dribbling the hoop 22 feet and scoring without hitting Laker security personnel. Ibaka was everywhere, although Walton declared that he was "the recipient" of the Lakers' defensive attacks that had pushed JaVale McGee and others to leave it open while responding to emergencies.
"There were things we could have done better at the point of attack," said James.
The 34 points were a career high for Ibaka, but Jonas Valanciunas then scored 14 goals in 17 minutes. The Lakers can not get Tyson Chandler quickly enough, his defense and professionalism in the locker room.
Someone asked Ingram where the Lakers were right now and he smiled weakly. "We are at the beginning of the season," he said.
Turbulence was expected, with delays, newcomers and surplus stocks at the leader level. Some nights were better than others. But Sunday, the Lakers were seduced by their insistence on "rhythm", which was added to random shots in unexpected places and a parade of quick breaks Raptors.
James had two shots, no help and no rebound during this first quarter horror show, and he seemed exasperated by the chaos surrounding him. Five of this year's 15 baskets were put to flight.
Kuzma, Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart ERow and rookie Svi Mykhalliuk, a tall shooter who had only played 53 minutes this season, reduced the gap to 10 seconds. Walton said that if the Lakers were close, he would have brought James back.
"They stopped and moved the ball," Walton said. "You like to reward a band like that. They played with great energy, getting stops. If we had been close enough, we would have made this submarine and tried to steal it. "
The smell of sulfur was already present at Staples Center, thanks to the dismissal of Kings coach John Stevens on Sunday morning. He probably did not know that he should have taken "fold back" literally.
The kings are 4-8-1. That's 13 games out of 82, including only four against goalkeeper Jonathan Quick. General Manager Rob Blake, with no ties to Toe Blake, launched Stevens after only 19 months of work and a playoff appearance in his first season. Blake and club president Luc Robitaille hired Stevens, remember, and did not express any dissatisfaction with how Stevens sped up the pace of last season.
Then Johnson was heard to blame the way the Lakers began, although he said Sunday that it would take something "drastic" to get Walton fired this year and repeated that this is not happening. would not produce.
Walton was the favorite of the bets to lose his coaching position before everyone else, but Cleveland beat the Lakers after firing Tyronn Lue after a start of the game from 0 to 6. Lue, of course, won the 2016 NBA championship and has qualified for the final two following seasons.
In general, unless there are personal and criminal episodes, coaches are fired in the middle of the season because management does not know what to do. Blake's comments about the hiring of Acting Coach Willie Desjardins are roughly identical to those of former Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi about hired Darryl Sutter in December 2013. Lue and Sutter won championships after registering mid-season. More often, the coach changes, but not the story.
Again, panic sometimes indicates simply increased awareness. No reaction to what the Lakers did Sunday night would be too extreme.
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