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Dave McMenamin, ESPN writer
ATLANTA — The Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a brutal four-game road trip on Friday after being outscored by the surging Atlanta Hawks 134-132 in overtime.
Although LeBron James and Anthony Davis were involved in several late-game errors that helped the Hawks to victory, James pointed to a general concern that has led to Los Angeles losing seven of its last nine games, rather than specific errors. . That happened down the stretch in Atlanta.
After the Lakers’ bench was outscored 65-17 against the Hawks, James said the team’s lack of depth is being tested. He rattled off the names of Austin Reaves, Jarred Vanderbilt, Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes (all of whom were inactive Friday night) as players in the “top 11” of the Lakers’ possible rotation if they were healthy.
“Not matching lineups, we’re trying to find ways, obviously,” James said. “So it’s a big challenge. We don’t have much room for error… They’re big, big, big, big pieces.”
The biggest absence has been Reaves, who sat out the 1-3 trip due to a bruise in his left pelvis and returned to Los Angeles before Friday’s game for treatment.
“He’s like a connector for our offense, but he’s also a scorer and a playmaker,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said, speaking before Friday’s game, of Reaves, who has averaged 16.7 points and 4 .8 assists per game this season. “He does both. And he’s very competitive and brings that juice every night.”
Reaves is considered day-to-day heading into Sunday’s home game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Hayes has missed 12 of Los Angeles’ last 13 games due to a right ankle injury and is expected to miss at least another week. Wood (left knee surgery) and Vanderbilt (right foot surgery and fluid in left knee) have not played all season. Wood’s schedule is still unclear and Vanderbilt intends to play in early January, according to the Lakers.
His absences have not only caused the Lakers to rank in the bottom five in bench points this season, but also led Redick to shuffle the lineup in search of something that sticks, such as starting Gabe Vincent instead of D’Angelo Russell on Friday. .
James’ comments came after he and Davis put together some of their best performances of the season, although Davis made a couple of key mistakes in overtime. He fumbled a pass to James with 28 seconds left in the extra session that James saved from becoming a bucket by getting a chase block on Dyson Daniels and then was involved in a poorly executed infield play when Davis was tied up. by three Hawks defenders with 19.6 seconds left, leading to a jump ball that James couldn’t corral.
James scored 39 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals for his seventh triple-double this season. He was 14 of 25 from the field, including 6 of 11 on 3-pointers after recently struggling with his shot.
Davis scored 38 points on 15-of-27 shooting, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 blocks, rebounding from a season-low eight points on 3-of-14 shooting in Wednesday’s loss to the Miami Heat.
For his part, Davis said the Lakers simply have to work with what they have for now.
“There is no cavalry,” Davis said. “No one feels sorry for us. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We just have to keep putting our heads down, trying hard and working. Try to get back in the win column on Sunday against Portland… No game.” “It will be easy for us, so we have to go for the win.”
James added: “I don’t know what’s going to get us through it. We just have to not drown. Let’s not drown and we’ll be fine.”
