LOS ANGELES — The Lakers unveiled a modest black and gold championship banner on Monday night, marking their victory in the inaugural In-Season Tournament. Though dwarfed by the 17 NBA championship banners that hang alongside it inside Crypto.com Arena, its importance isn’t lost on the Lakers.
“It’s a great shot in the arm as far as us rising to the occasion from a competitive standpoint,” Coach Darvin Ham said. “Furthermore, it creates and sustains a foundation that we are trying to set for the season and ultimately the playoffs.”
Nine days after closing out a 7-0 run to the title, the foundation has yet to take hold. The Lakers, beset by injuries and illness that have resulted in uneven outcomes, lost Monday for the third time in four games.
Even with the stars healthy and starting, the Lakers again came up short, this time losing to the New York Knicks, 114-109.
“I’m not one to use excuses,” Ham said. “I thought the way we played during that (tournament) time was great. Obviously, we were whole. We had some, again, unfortunate tweaks here and there of guys being out. Unfortunate sickness, or whatever. But we knew the games were inner-woven.”
Yet, Ham knows that few are going to feel sorry for a team that is coming off a title victory or owns a league-leading number of NBA championships. He said the Lakers (15-12) need to get into a position – both physically and mentally – where they can outduel teams.
“(We can’t be) thinking about a tournament that we just won or four out of five nights that we got to do in two weeks,” Ham said. “Just focus on today, whatever is immediately in front of you,”
Still, the injuries took their toll. Anthony Davis missed the second game against the Spurs during the team’s three-game Texas trip after rolling an ankle two nights earlier and LeBron James didn’t play in the first game in San Antonio because of a calf contusion.
Others who had missed recent games were D’Angelo Russell (non-COVID illness), Jarred Vanderbilt (low back spasm) and Christian Wood (non-COVID illness).
The Lakers came close to catching the Knicks, but they couldn’t make the most of their opportunities to close the gap down the stretch.
James scored back-to-back baskets to trim the Knicks’ lead to 103-99 with 3:38 left, but the Knicks’ Julius Randle rattled home a desperate 3-pointer to beat the shot clock moments later. After winning a jump ball, James missed a 3-point attempt with 40 seconds to play that would have trimmed the margin to two points, and Randle cherry-picked a dunk on the other end.
Trailing 110-103, Austin Reaves made three free throws to trim the lead to four. Following free throws by Jalen Brunson, Davis landed a 3-pointer to pull the Lakers to within 112-109. A desperation shot by Reaves fell short and the Lakers lost for the third time in their last four games.
“I feel like our energy was up and down throughout the course of the game,” said James, who had 25 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his second triple-double of the season. “We’ve been feeling it, definitely. Even through that, we still competed and gave ourselves a chance, but it’s a tough one for us.”
James and Davis (32 points, 14 rebounds) combined to shoot 24 for 45 from the field, but the rest of the team shot 18 for 54 (33.3%).
“You have nights like that, man,” Ham said. “It’s a make-or-miss league. They had stretches where they were missing. We were forcing them to miss, playing great defense. And they had some good runs. It’s a game of runs and all the looks we got tonight, I’ll take them every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
“So, you just got to continue to be aggressive and if you’re open, shoot it. If it goes in, great. If not, you just got to keep that confidence and keep trying to find different ways to give yourself a chance and I thought we did that. Even down the stretch, even though we came up short, we never stopped competing. And that’s the thing that definitely gives you a ton of confidence.”
The Knicks (15-11), who bounced back from a loss to the Clippers two nights earlier, exploited the Lakers’ lack of chemistry, undone by the string of ailments and injuries, and consistently found openings in their transition defense. The Lakers also couldn’t slow the Knicks inside, giving up 62 points in the paint, and they were outhustled on the boards, 52-41.
“It’s very rare we get outscored in the paint. They were very deliberate in trying to play downhill and get to the paint,” Ham said. “Just constantly coming at you and then for us, we had some really outstanding looks that just didn’t go down. Both at the rim and from three. And I felt like they caught us standing a little bit.”
Not even Davis and James could counter the Knicks’ solid shooting from the field (47.7%) and their 3-point attack (33.3%). Nor could they successfully match the aggressive play of Brunson, who led the team with 29 points (11 in the fourth quarter) and Randle, who added 27 points and 14 rebounds in another stat-laden outing against the team that drafted him before letting him leave as a free agent.
“It’s tough, (because) for the whole month of December, we’ve basically been on the road,” Davis said. “There’s nothing we can really do about it. It’s the schedule. We’ve just got to take care of our bodies and get some guys back, hopefully in the next couple of games. But it’s definitely a mental challenge.”
It could take a few more games for their chemistry to return, but the Lakers are going to have to rebuild it on the road. Immediately after Monday’s game, the team headed back out for a three-game trip to Chicago, Minnesota and Oklahoma City before returning home for a Christmas Day game against the Boston Celtics.
The Lakers then close out the month with a home game against Charlotte and two more road games.
“There is no rest for the weary,” James said. “We just got to mentally stay locked in and get ready for Chicago first, who got a big win tonight against Philly in Philly. So, looking forward to the matchup.”
With players coming in and out of the lineup recently, the Lakers’ lack of cohesiveness was evident as they struggled to match the Knicks’ intensity early and fell behind by as many as 12 in the first half.
James made just three of his seven shots in the first half, Cam Reddish had just two points in his first 10 minutes and Russell had nine points before halftime. Davis, too, had difficulty scoring until coming back into the game at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter with the Knicks holding a seven-point lead.
It took a full three minutes, but Davis managed to get the Lakers moving. Trailing 55-46, Davis connected on consecutive shots to get them within five. After Knicks center Isiah Hartenstein made two free throws, Davis completed a three-point play to cut the margin to four.
Russell closed the gap to 57-56 on a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in the half, then Davis ended the half with his fifth basket with one second left to give the Lakers a 58-57 halftime lead.
“I just think his energy and activity that he’s putting into his offense,” Ham said of Davis’ inspired play this month. “His set-ups as far as getting to his spots, a lot of it has been organic, so it’s in flow (of the game). It’s not forced. I think the energy he gives us on the other side of the ball sort of ignites the juices for him to come flowing into the offense.”
The team was still without guard Gabe Vincent, who has been out for more than six weeks with a knee ailment. He reportedly was expected to return in time for Monday’s game, but Ham said Vincent still needs to improve his conditioning, something he will work on during their upcoming trip.
BANNER UNVEILED
The Lakers’ In-Season Tournament banner is now nestled near the franchise’s 17 NBA championship banners, but the unveiling was handled in a low-key manner.
The ceremony was simple. Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss did not take the court. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was not on hand. The players paused their pregame warmups for a brief video recap and the banner reveal, and the NBA Cup trophy was placed on a table at center court while the Lakers stood beside it and were recognized by public address announcer Lawrence Tanter as the champs as fans clapped politely.
“I think it was awesome,” said James, who was the MVP of the In-Season Tournament. “To acknowledge wins throughout the course of a marathon, I think it’s pretty cool. That’s the first. That’s the inauguration of it, so for our fans that didn’t get an opportunity to be in Vegas, they got an opportunity to kind of share that celebration with us tonight, share that moment. Something that will live on forever, for sure, here.”
Those in attendance were given black T-shirts that commemorated the tournament title, and the Lakers wore the black alternate uniforms that they went 3-0 in during tourney play.
The Lakers deliberately put a subdued nature on their celebrations nine days after they beat Indiana in Las Vegas to win the tournament title. The decorated franchise famously doesn’t hang banners for division titles or conference titles, and it has only retired the uniform numbers of Basketball Hall of Famers.
But the Lakers eventually decided the tournament victory deserves its own recognition – beyond the $500,000 awarded to each player.
The new vertical IST banner – which has room to add future championship years – is black with gold accents, featuring a graphic of the NBA Cup trophy in the middle. It has a pointed bottom and hangs near the five horizontal banners representing the Minneapolis Lakers’ titles before the team moved to the West Coast. It is about half the size of the 12 gold, horizontal banners for the NBA titles the franchise has earned in Los Angeles, which still dominate the north wall of the arena.
“I think it’s a cool thing,” Davis said of the new banner. “(The tournament) has to be a continuous thing now. It can’t be three or four years and then it’s over, because now it (would be) like, ‘All right, you’ve got a banner for what?’ If it’s something that’s going to continue to stick around for years to come, then I think it’s cool, and I think other teams would do it if they win as well.”
LeBron James on the mindset heading into this roadtrip: "Get some rest, get healthy and try to finish out December the right way… we just got to mentally stay locked in." pic.twitter.com/c1KXU1BuyA
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 19, 2023
Darvin Ham on tonight's Lakers shooting: "It's a game of runs. All the looks we got tonight, I'll take them every day of the week and twice on Sundays. You just got to continue being aggressive." pic.twitter.com/fYPWxBbe3r
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 19, 2023
Anthony Davis (32 pts, 14 reb) speaks about the confidence in his jumper as of late and the challenges in the schedule. pic.twitter.com/WTrhfu8vJQ
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 19, 2023
