It wasn't but two weeks ago that Anthony Davis said the Lakers were capable of going on a "10-game winning streak, 12-game winning streak."
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The Lakers were 10-11 at the time and had just lost a triple-overtime game against the lowly Sacramento Kings.
"You know, 10-game winning streak, we're 20-11," he continued. "Now we'll shut everybody up. But it's on us. We're going to have to do it. It's not just going to be easy."
Now, following a loss to a Memphis Grizzlies team playing without their star point guard Ja Morant, it seems like Davis is taking stock of where the Lakers really are just over one-quarter of the way into the season.
“We can’t keep taking a step forward and two steps backward. We got to fix it quickly," he said following the 108-95 loss.
"[Opponents] feel like they’re the underdogs when they’re coming in, especially when they’re without their star players and we got to play like we’re the underdogs," Davis added. "Which, now, at this point of the season, the way we’re playing, a lot of games, we probably are."
LeBron James reaches a sprint speed of 17.3 mph on the break, tracked by #NBACourtOptix powered by Microsoft Azure! pic.twitter.com/aJ4yRC0zEW
— NBA (@NBA) December 10, 2021
The Lakers endured a difficult start to the season, and have played large portions of it without LeBron James who has missed time with injury, and in the league's Health and Safety protocols - albeit briefly - and also have struggled to integrate so many new off-season additions.
It appeared that the team may have turned a corner following their win over the Celtics on Tuesday night, a game in which their Big Three probably had their best game together - James had 30 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Westbrook had 24 points, 11 assists, and 3 rebounds, while Davis had 17 points and 16 rebounds.
Against the Grizzlies, James notched his 100th career triple-double, but Westbrook had a quiet game (9 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) and Davis had 22 points and 8 rebounds.
Another career milestone for the 👑 pic.twitter.com/mZPmNirGlB
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 10, 2021
The Lakers drop to 13-13 on the season. Of their next five games, only two (Dallas and Chicago) are teams above .500. This could be a chance for the Lakers to get some momentum, but Davis understands it's going to have to be a team effort.
"We've got to be a more consistent team to truly compete for a championship."