The Toronto Raptors handed the Los Angeles Lakers their third loss in a row and the sixth loss in the last seven games. The reigning NBA champions are dangerously close to dropping to the Play-In Tournament slot as they share the same record as the seventh-placed Portland Trail Blazers.
LeBron James is clearly not in favor of the Play-In Tournament as he said whoever came up with the idea of it needs to be fired, despite being supportive of it last year. Anthony Davis has also said the Lakers do not want to be in a position where they would have to take part in it.
When asked about how his team can improve over the remaining regular season games, Davis pointed at things that the players can control.
“Just energy and effort, surely it. Can’t control if the ball goes into basket or not but we can control how we play defense,” AD said. “We can control hustle, all the hustle stats, all the hustle points for us. It starts with our defense and we are giving away too many points per quarter and total for the game.
“We got to be better on that end of the floor. I think that will help us get to Laker basketball which is running and guys getting quality looks instead of taking the ball out of bounds every time because their shots are constantly falling.”
