The Los Angeles Lakers have been a completely different team since Christmas. LeBron James went down and with him went, well, every positive attribute of the style of basketball the Lakers wanted to play. Aspects of the game they struggled with got worse, and strong-points of the team fell off a cliff.
With 25 games left of this season and a three-game gap to make up between them and eighth and final playoff spot of the Western Conference, the Lakers have to turn things around.
James spoke to the media after what he called a “good” practice Wednesday afternoon, and made it clear that the Lakers will have to turn things around if they want to reach the franchise’s first postseason in half a decade, but that he’s looking forward to the challenge.