The most recent display of such carelessness was magnified when the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the East 5th seed Indiana Pacers, with no Victor Oladipo for the sixth straight game. LeBron James and his men came out all guns blazing and piled up a season-best 38 points in the first quarter itself, restricting the visitors to just 15.
Certainly, the game would have easily landed in their bag, had they just maintained the tempo and toughness on defense, keeping in mind that the cushion was of 20+ points. But, more often than not, that hasn’t been the case with the men in purple-n-gold in the recent past.