Lakers Help Cavaliers End Losing Streak, Walton Reveals Starting Lineup Changes

The Los Angeles Lakers fell to a new low on Sunday night without talisman LeBron James as they lost 101-95 to the worst team in the NBA at the moment, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Luke Walton’s team have struggled since James’ groin injury that has seen him miss the last two weeks. He has now missed 10 games, of which they have lost seven and could further be out for their upcoming clashes with the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

The Lakers were in fourth place just prior to James’ injury and had just beaten the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day. They have since gone on a 3-7 run and are currently in eighth place in the Western Conference.

Walton has a young team at his disposal and they have been unable to maintain the winning run with inconsistent displays in recent games. The likes of Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram have impressed, but have done so sporadically in one-off games.

The Cavaliers ended their 12-game losing streak to make it 9-35 for the season, and they were not the first team to end their losing run against the Lakers. The New York Knick did the same a week prior when they ended their nine-game losing run with a 119-112 win over the Lakers.

Kuzma ended the night with 29 points and nine rebounds, while Ingram contributed 22 points and seven rebounds. But the rest of the squad were disappointing on the night with only Ball recording double digits with 13 points.

Despite the disappointment, Walton made it clear that he believes in the team and admitted that their poor free scoring was the main cause for the loss on the night. The Lakers missed 11 free throws on their way to a six-point loss to the Eastern Conference’s lowest placed team.

“Frustrating loss, we got to play better. We got make shots, we got to make free throws,” Walton said during his post-match press conference. “Like I said, I believe in this team and I believe that this group will play better and will start winning games.”

“But, as a team, we got to step up and go out and take some of these games and we had plenty of chances to get over the hump and we did not do it. As a group we need to be better,” he added.

Walton spoke about his team’s mentality and believes they need to continue taking their shots and drop their head if they miss shots that one would normally expect them to make either from the three-point line or free throws.

The Lakers coach also revealed he could make changes to the starting lineup ahead of their game against the Bulls on Tuesday after admitting that his team is conceding too many points in the first quarter – they were down by 15 after the first against the Cavaliers.

“We might have to do something to the starting lineup right now, every game it feels like we are giving up 30+ points in the first quarter. So I’ll take a closer look at that. I really thought we would come out with better energy and you know by the end of the games we are doing a nice job of stabilizing our defense, but we can’t give up 30+ points in the beginning,” he added.