Sports
Lakers worn down by losing, but they insist 'everybody in the locker room gets along'
Inside a quiet Lakers locker room late Wednesday night, LeBron James dressed in silence while Anthony Davis spoke to the media in a soft voice next to his running partner. James slowly put his clothes on and left without speaking to the media.
The Lakers have lost three straight games and are 3-9 since winning the NBA’s in-season tournament a little more than three weeks ago.
The 110-96 loss to the Miami Heat at Crypto.com Arena left the Lakers in a sour mood.
“We’re losing,” guard Austin Reaves said. “Anytime you lose, the vibe should be off, you know? If I went in there and the vibe wasn’t off after the rough stretch that we’ve had, then I’d be concerned. That’s really it. You know, I don’t expect for us to be happy with how we’ve played. So, until we figure that out, you know, the vibe should be off. We got to win games.”
To be sure, Reaves said after producing 24 points, eight assists and five rebounds in a starting role again, he’s not suggesting there is an issue inside the locker room.
It’s just that losing brings misery.
“And to just go back to your question, when I say the vibe is off, it’s not like we don’t like each other. It’s we’re losing,” Reaves said. “We should be pissed off. We shouldn’t be happy after games with how we’re playing. But I don’t want to get that twisted on us not liking each other. Everybody in the locker room gets along. When the frustration of losing wears off a day or two later, it’s not like the vibe is off. The vibe is good being around one another.”
The only way to get out of this rut, Davis said, is by “competing.”
Davis said the group also can’t let making or missing shots stop them from competing on defense and offense.
“I think that kind of wore on guys a little bit, when their shot’s not falling, it kind of messes with guys and it kind of carries over to the next play — whether it’s offense or defense,” Davis said. “So, that will help but we just got to go out and compete, no matter what. Leave it all out on the floor. Doing the little things that kind of get you going.”
Davis did his share of the lifting for the Lakers, scoring 29 points, grabbing 17 rebounds, handing out six assists and blocking five shots.
“I know for me, if I am not playing well offensively, I’ll do the little things,” Davis said. “I’ll block a shot, I’ll go get a big rebound, I’ll dive on the floor and get a steal. Anything to kind of get you going. So, I think our little things that will help us kind of get back into a rhythm offensively, with our shot-making, but also kind of get us a little energy on the defensive end because right now we’re not doing anything on both ends.”
Lakers give the ball away too much
The Lakers were down 10 points when Davis and Reaves forced a missed shot by Bam Adebayo, putting the Lakers in position to put a dent in their deficit in the fourth quarter.
But after Davis got the defensive rebound, he threw the ball away, his pass to Reaves floating out of bounds and the Lakers’ fortunes going the same way after yet another turnover.
Davis crouched over, shaking his head at his ill-advised pass, one of the 22 turnovers the Lakers had against the Heat. It was one shy of the Lakers’ season high.
“You’re constantly turning the ball over — I had five — it’s deflating,” Davis said. “You can’t even get a shot on the rim, I mean, you get 10 in the first quarter. Twelve is usually the goal for a game. And we had 10 in the first quarter. So, it gets deflating, especially unforced turnovers. Bad passes or mishandling the ball. It’s those where it’s not even forced, those are the deflating ones. And they go out and score. And it just kept happening in the first quarter, which is, like I said, deflating. It kind of slows the game down and we dug ourselves a hole and it just kind of carried out through the rest of the game.”
The Lakers started the game being careless with the basketball, giving it away 10 times. They had 15 by the half.
But the tone was set in the first quarter.
Beside the five by Davis, Cam Reddish had four and Reaves had three.
The last turnover the Lakers had with four minutes and 50 seconds left in the game was the final straw for them.
They never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
“The outlet pass that AD tried to throw to me, which I thought he was tossing it to ‘Bron, so I was just running,” Reaves said. “But it’s little things like that. I’ve got to be better just not having those situations happen and maybe if we go down there and score, get some momentum and push to win that game. But the first quarter has got to be better.”
Poor shooting dooms Lakers
The Lakers took 30 three-point shots and made just four of them.
That’s 13.3%.
That’s not going to get it done in a league in which three-point shooting is needed to be successful.
James missed all six of his three-point attempts, Taurean Prince all five of his and Max Christie missed seven of his nine attempts.
“If you just look at the stat sheet, we got to shoot the ball better from three. Shooting 13% tonight, you are not going to win those games when you do that,” Reaves said. “…Basketball today you got to shoot the three well.”
Sports
Lakers announce summer league schedule, roster
While veterans jockey for new contracts during free agency, young players are getting their tryout opportunities with NBA summer league games beginning this week.
First-round draft pick Cameron Carr and second-year forward Adou Thiero highlight the Lakers summer league roster that was announced Wednesday. The 16-man team will be coached by Lakers assistant coach Ty Abbott and begin summer league play Friday against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center.
The Lakers also face the Miami Heat (July 5, 1:30 p.m.) and San Antonio Spurs (July 6, 4:30 p.m.) in the California Classic before playing in the Las Vegas summer league from July 9-19. The Lakers play Oklahoma City (July 10), Dallas (July 11), the Clippers (July 14) and Chicago (July 16) in Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.
The Lakers traded up in the draft to get Carr, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Baylor, with the 24th overall pick. He will make his unofficial NBA debut, along with former Indiana State and Saint Louis star Robbie Avila. The 6-10 center became a bespectacled college basketball cult hero known affectionately as “Cream Abdul Jabbar” while leading Indiana State to the NIT championship game in 2024. He transferred to Saint Louis, where he was named Atlantic-10 player of the year as a senior when the Billikens won a school-record 29 wins.
Although he is entering his second season with the Lakers, Thiero will be playing his first summer league games. Persistent knee injuries hampered his rookie season. The athletic 6-7 forward averaged 1.9 points and 1.1 rebounds in 25 appearances last season. He said after the Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs that he wanted to improve on his three-point shooting during his second year. He attempted only five three-pointers during his rookie season, regular season and playoffs, making one.
Lakers summer league roster
Robbie Avila, C, 6-10, 240
Cameron Carr, G, 6-5, 190
Jon Elmore, G, 6-3, 190
Luke Goode, F, 6-7, 210
William Hickey, G, 6-4, 203
Arthur Kaluma, F, 6-7, 225
William Kyle III, C, 6-9, 230
Chris Mañon, G, 6-4, 212
Robert McCray V, G, 6-4, 188
AK Okereke, F, 6-7, 245
Chase Ross, G, 6-5, 210
Zhaire Smith, G, 6-4, 205
Peter Suder, G, 6-5, 215
Adou Thiero, F, 6-7, 234
Anton Watson, F, 6-8, 225
Jacari White, G, 6-3, 180
Sports
USA World Cup star Folarin Balogun receives controversial red card during Round of 32 match
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
U.S. men’s national team star Folarin Balogun received a red card in the second half of their Round of 32 World Cup matchup against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday night.
Balogun was making a challenge on a ball when he stepped on an opposing player’s leg.
The U.S. men’s national team is down to 10 players for the rest of the match. If the U.S. holds their 1-0 lead, Balogun will have to miss the Round of 16 game.
Balogun scored for the U.S. in the first half.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Sports
Dodgers’ Will Smith won’t return before the All-Star break
SACRAMENTO — The first half of the season will conclude with Will Smith in the same place he has been for the last month: the injured list.
The Dodgers’ three-time All-Star catcher has been on the IL since June 8 because of what the Dodgers list as neck inflammation. Smith said he had been diagnosed with an inflamed disk.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he “just can’t see any world” in which Smith would return before the All-Star break, which concludes July 16.
“It’s certainly longer, I know, than all of us expected,” Roberts said. “But I don’t think it’s anything real, kind of affecting-the-season type thing.”
Roberts said Smith has not been able to accelerate his rehabilitation to the point of doing baseball activities.
Dalton Rushing, who has taken over as the Dodgers’ primary catcher in Smith’s absence, is batting .213 with one home run and 19 strikeouts in 18 games while Smith has been on the injured list. The Dodgers gave Rushing the day off Wednesday.
The Dodgers were 14-6 with Smith on the IL entering play Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, the team scratched shortstop Mookie Betts from the starting lineup because of a sore right wrist.
-
Lifestyle5 minutes agoDLTA’s former Ace Hotel is reborn as a ‘creative hub’ — and yes, you can still sleep there
-
Politics8 minutes agoTrump wants to show off D.C. for the Fourth. His construction is in the way
-
Science13 minutes agoBoyle Heights blaze choked L.A. with astronomical soot pollution
-
Sports20 minutes agoLakers announce summer league schedule, roster
-
World28 minutes ago
How the Entry-Exit System is becoming a nightmare for Europe's summer travellers
-
News53 minutes agoNewsom’s office responds to SCOTUS ruling on women’s sports as California faces ongoing trans athlete wave
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours agoFamily of boy, 8, killed by falling tree branch at Calabasas park to get $14.6M
-
Detroit, MI3 hours agoThe worst Detroit sports uniform from every pro team