MINNEAPOLIS — LeBron James shrugged. He rolled his eyes. He complained to the refs. He hung his head.
There was no discretion Monday in Minnesota — everything you needed to know about the Lakers and their leading scorer was on display in big, bold letters.
Playing on the second night of back-to-back games, James looked as uncomfortable as ever in a Lakers uniform as he and his team failed over and over at the game’s simplest task — putting the ball in the basket.
Minnesota beat the Lakers 109-80 on Monday, their fifth loss in their last seven games. James has now gone four straight games without a made three-pointer, and the Lakers’ offense has failed to score 110 points or more in five of its last six games.
For James, it’s been a miserable stretch of offensive basketball, particularly from the perimeter where he’s now missed 19 consecutive threes. He’s also been remarkably careless with the ball, turning it over six times on Monday, including one pass that perfectly split D’Angelo Russell and Gabe Vincent on the break, neither player close to keeping it from going into the seats.
James has turned it over at least five times in 11 of the Lakers’ 21 games.
Russell, who missed Sunday’s ugly win in Utah, led the Lakers with 20 points.
Slightly less concerning than the James’ struggles is Anthony Davis’ bad week. Monday, he scored only 12 points, a season low. He’s been held below 20 in three of the Lakers’ last four games.
Before the game, coach JJ Redick said he and the players believed the best version of their team is one based on motion.
“I think everybody that I’ve talked to, and that’s our main seven or eight guys, they all feel the same way I do, which is the best version of us is when we have body and ball movement. I think we’ve seen that be a fact,” Redick said. “I think they all agree with that. I’ve had conversations with them, they’ve all agreed with that. And I think if you look at the quarters, games where we’ve stalled out, we haven’t had that.”
The team didn’t move much Monday as they trudged through the worst offensive game for the organization since 2017.
The Lakers play again Wednesday in Miami and finish the trip on Friday in Atlanta.
