LeBron James Sets Another Record, But The Lakers Still Fall To The Grizzlies

Lebron James is no stranger to records and became the fifth player to post 100 triple-doubles in last night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd and Russell Westbrook are the only other players that have been able to reach that mark. James put up 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, but his efforts were not enough as the Los Angeles Lakers fell to 13-13 in a 108-95 loss. It should be noted that the Grizzlies were playing without their two best players in Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks.

A dismal start to the season for a team with the star power that one would associate with Hollywood can be attributed to inconsistent line-ups (12 in just 26 games), injuries, and at least in this game, turnovers. Russell Westbrook had 6, while James committed five.

“Our turnovers went way up, we didn’t rebound the basketball, we were slow to every loose ball, and there was just too much of a casualness to our approach after we got that early lead,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said.

LeBron is averaging 36.8 minutes this season which is more than he has averaged during his tenure with the Lakers. In the past, teams have been able to rely on the magic of LeBron to propel them to victories, but somehow the Lakers aren’t able to add to the win column even with almost 37-year-old James still playing at a high level.

Maybe a shift in mindset will do the trick.

“These guys (Memphis) already feel like they’re the underdogs when they’re coming in, especially when they’re without their star players,” Anthony Davis said. “And we got to play like we’re the underdogs. Which, now, at this point of the season, the way we’re playing a lot of games, we probably are.”

The Lakers will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder at 8 p.m. tonight.