Los Angeles Lakers Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The Los Angeles Lakers come into this season with the weight of expectation and the confidence of champions. Last year they rolled through the playoffs field in the NBA Bubble, their two top-5 players an unstoppable force. Overall they went 16-5 and looked inevitable.
Then the season occurred, and injuries to those two stars pushed the Lakers down the bracket and injected uncertainty. Yet even as the postseason began things didn’t look as formidable. Their two stars were healthy enough to play, they faced one of the playoff field’s most inexperienced teams, and they were on the opposite side of the bracket from their toughest on-paper opponents.
Three games in things were trending in the right direction. Although LeBron James dropped his classic Game 1 loss, the Lakers had won the next two and Anthony Davis looked dominant. Chris Paul, the Suns’ veteran point guard was hurt and ineffective. The Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers were beating each other up for the right to lose to the defending champs.
It all fell apart from there. Anthony Davis would suffer a groin injury late in the first half of Game 4, while opposite them Chris Paul would gut through his shoulder injury to lead the Suns to the win. Then Game 5 was an absolute blowout for the Suns to take the series lead. Game 6, back in Los Angeles, was a win-or-go-home situation for the Lakers. Unable to rise to the occasion, they lost again in ignominious fashion to end their season.
Why did the Los Angeles Lakers lose in the first round eight months after winning the title?
There is a glaring and obvious cause to the Lakers’ quick exit, the groin injury to Anthony Davis, and we will unpack the effect that injury had. Yet it was not the sole reason the Lakers lost, especially when you consider how badly the Suns rolled over them the final three games of the series. There is more to point to in diagnosing this flameout than just one player.
A couple of months ago we looked at both sides of the championship coin for the Lakers. If they won the title again, what would the reasons be? If they lost, however, what would be holding them back? The three reasons we said the Lakers would not win the title: injuries to their stars, struggles guarding opposing backcourts, and a much tougher bracket than a year ago. That looks very prescient now.
Building into that list a little more nuance now that we know exactly what happened, we can similarly build out the three reasons the Lakers lost in the first round. We’ll start with the most important and most obvious: those injured stars.
what would the reasons be</a>? If they lost, however, <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"https://hoopshabit.com/2021/04/15/los-angeles-lakers-title/">what would be holding them back</a>? The three reasons we said the Lakers would not win the title: injuries to their stars, struggles guarding opposing backcourts, and a much tougher bracket than a year ago. That looks very prescient now.</p>
<p>Building into that list a little more nuance now that we know exactly what happened, we can similarly build out the three reasons the Lakers lost in the first round. We’ll start with the most important and most obvious: those injured stars.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Injured stars </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-419235" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1248,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1207879697.jpeg" alt="Los Angeles Lakers" width="1600" height="1248" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1207879697.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1207879697-768x599.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Photo by Harry How/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>3 reasons the Los Angeles Lakers lost: Superstar injuries</h2>
<p>The Los Angeles Lakers found themselves in seventh place in the Western Conference at the end of the season in large part because their two stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, missed large chunks of the season due to injury. Unfortunately, both players returning in the season’s final weeks did not cure them of the injury bug.</p>
<p>Davis missed 36 games this season, most of those with an Achilles injury. He has dealt in the past with everything from shoulder to knee injuries, back contusions, and even a strained left groin in 2017. Nursing a knee injury in the early games of the series, Davis hurt that same left groin late in the first half of Game 4.</p>
<p>The Lakers had, just barely, outscored the Suns through 14 quarters of basketball in this series when Davis was injured. They lost the subsequent 10 quarters by 50 points, with the Suns outpacing the Lakers 227 to 227. To help with the math, that’s a cool 20 points per game.</p>
<p>LeBron James has been in a position before of having to carry a team when a co-star went down. He did so in the 2015 NBA Finals and drug the series to 6 games when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had no fellow stars in 2007 when the Cavaliers made the NBA Finals simply because LeBron James was unstoppable.</p>
<p>He did not have the juice to do that this time around. That could be in part because James is finally feeling the effects of Father Time, but more so it should be chalked up to the lingering effects of the high ankle sprain he suffered in late March.</p>
<p>James not only missed six weeks of games due to the injury, it clearly is hampering his explosion and conditioning. James found himself walled out of the paint by the likes of Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. He settled for outside jumpers, which sometimes fell (hello Game 2 victory) and often did not.</p>
<p>The superstar forward was decent on both ends of the court in this series, but he often took possessions off and couldn’t be the heliocentric puppet-master he has been in years past, and that <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"https://hoopshabit.com/2021/05/26/luka-doncic-relationship-clippers-lebron/">players such as Luka Doncic are this season</a>. To be technical, he simply didn’t have it.</p>
<p>For James, even as he nears age 37, this offseason should provide plenty of time to heal his ankle and he can hit next season fully healthy. Davis, however, has proven vulnerable to a wide variety of injuries. That’s not a knock against his character, especially as he tried his best to play through the pain early in Game 6.</p>
<p>The reality is that the Lakers will have to deal with the high probability of Davis getting injured again next season. When he stays healthy this pairing has proven they can win it all. When they’re not, they can flame out in the first round.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Offseason subtractions </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><p><img class="size-full wp-image-430098" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_560,w_850/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1315180767.jpeg" alt="<a rel=" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1315180767.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1315180767-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"></p>
<h2>3 reasons the Los Angeles Lakers lost: Poor offseason moves</h2>
<p>This offseason the Los Angeles Lakers, fresh off a championship, could have rested on their laurels. Instead, they were aggressive in turning over parts of this team around their core of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. That included trading for Dennis Schroder and signing Montrezl Harrel, Marc Gasol and, later on the buyout market, Andre Drummond.</p>
<p>Every single one of those signings, with the possible exception of Marc Gasol, turned out to be a net negative for this team. Schroder was a solid two-way point guard when James and Davis were both healthy, but he was brought in to help carry the offense when they were off the court. He was unable to do that, wilting ultimately in their first-round series. He wasn’t able to help check Devin Booker, who averaged 29.7 points per game. On the other end, he was abysmal, averaging 14.3 points per game on 40.0 percent shooting from the field and 30.8 shooting from 3-point range.</p>
<p>The Lakers acquired Schroder by giving up both Danny Green and a first-round pick. Green especially would have been helpful in this series in slowing down Booker, and for a Lakers team whose spacing was strangled his outside shooting would have been a boon. It’s also not a stretch to think that the Lakers could have used that first-round pick on a player who could have helped this year: Jaden McDaniels, Malachi Flynn and Desmond Bane went just after they would have been on the clock.</p>
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<p>Let’s pivot to the center position, which was a low-cost strength for the Lakers last season. Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee soaked up the regular-season minutes, and then their minutes reduced in the playoffs as Davis played more of his minutes at the 5. The Lakers decided to move from low usage rim protectors to offense-oriented options in Montrezl Harrell and Andre Drummond. To sign Harrell they sacrificed their mid-level exception; to get Drummond on the buyout market they clearly promised him a starting role.</p>
<p>Harrell was unplayable for the Lakers against the Suns, too small to check DeAndre Ayton and little help keeping Booker off the rim. Drummond was entrenched as the starter, tying Frank Vogel’s hands as he was forced to keep Davis at the 4 and bring Gasol off the bench.</p>
<p>What was the opportunity cost of signing Harrell instead of another player using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (NT-MLE)? The Lakers had to look no further than across the court at Jae Crowder, who signed this offseason with the Suns at the same number as Harrell.</p>
<p>Rather than improve this offseason, the Lakers pretty clearly took a step backward. The front office should deservedly receive credit for the moves it made to bring this organization a title last year. This time around? They blew it, adding regular-season players who were worse in the playoffs when this team expected to compete the most.</p>
<p>Perhaps it seems harsh to criticize the front office when this team lost its second-best player to injury. Clearly, the Lakers would have been more successful with Davis playing. Yet even if they won a series or two with a healthy Davis, it would have simply been papering over the reality of this flawed roster.</p>
<p>The Denver Nuggets similarly lost its second-best player to injury. Yet their moves in the last year made their team better, not worse, since they met the Lakers in last year’s Western Conference Finals. Facundo Campazzo has survived stepping into a larger role after signing with the Nuggets in the offseason. Aaron Gordon played high-level defense and hit an important shot in the Nuggets’ closeout Game 6. Buyout signing Austin Rivers played clutch minutes all series long.</p>
<p>The Lakers should receive criticism for surrounding James and Davis with worse players than they had a season ago. Not only did the players underperform, but the theory of them was always going to be worse than what the Lakers had a season ago.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Harder Path </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-430102" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1321235373.jpeg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1321235373.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1321235373-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>3 reasons the Los Angeles Lakers lost: A More Difficult Path</h2>
<p>Last season the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to the title, only once needing more than 5 games to win a series (a six-game victory in the NBA Finals). They played an eight seed, a five seed, a four seed and a three seed en route to their championship. The highest win percentage of an opponent they faced was the Denver Nuggets at .630 (i.e. they won 63 percent of their games) in the Western Conference Finals.</p>
<p>This season was always going to be different, and much more difficult. They were unlikely to get the unexpected gift of the Eastern Conference five seed ripping off three seed-line upsets to reach the Finals. Yet because they slipped to the seven seed, their path got exponentially more difficult.</p>
<p><a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"https://hoopshabit.com/2021/05/20/golden-state-warriors-3-takeaways/">It began in the play-in game</a> when the Lakers had to play Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. They barely snuck out the win, needing a miracle buzzer-beating rainbow from LeBron James. Then they faced the second-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round. At 51-21, the Suns’ winning percentage of .708 blew away anything the Lakers faced a season ago.</p>
<p>Even if Davis was healthy and they moved past the Suns, a rematch with the Nuggets would mean facing a stronger team than a year before (.653 winning percentage, +5.0 net rating compared to .630, +2.1 last year). Then a date with the LA Clippers or Utah Jazz, both stronger than any opponents from last year. The Milwaukee Bucks or Brooklyn Nets likely loomed in the NBA Finals.</p>
<p>LeBron James is one of the greatest players to ever lace up his sneakers, perhaps the very best. He has won against tough odds before. Yet never has he tried to claw up a playoff bracket like this before, and it led to the first and only first-round playoff exit in James’ career.</p>
<p>The Phoenix Suns are a legitimate contender, with two All-NBA guards and a center coming into his own as a force inside. Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder are the perfect forward combo in the modern NBA, with strong defensive chops and the ability to get hot from outside. <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/03/phoenix-suns-cameron-payne/">Cameron Payne coming off the bench</a> outplayed any guard from the Lakers.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Suns because Anthony Davis went down with an injury. When he was healthy the Lakers were drawing even with Phoenix, although admittedly with an injured star of their own in Chris Paul. For once it isn’t Paul’s injury forcing his team to bow out early, but his opponents’.</p>
<p>Yet at the end of the day, there were multiple factors, from James’ ankle injury to poor roster construction that ultimately ended the Lakers’ season and has them heading home much earlier than they expected or desired.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="2021 NBA Playoffs: Contender or pretender with all 16 teams" data-url="https://hoopshabit.com/2021/05/24/2021-nba-playoffs-contender-pretender/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/04/los-angeles-lakers-3-reasons-lost/"https://hoopshabit.com/2021/05/24/2021-nba-playoffs-contender-pretender/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> 2021 NBA Playoffs: Contender or pretender with all 16 teams </a> </div>
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