“I’ve seen it with our group this year” - Frank Vogel sounds off on LA Lakers not being able to capitalize on early leads, says he isn’t surprised it happened again
LA Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was brutally honest about his team's struggles to capitalize on their good starts during games. The 48-year-old stated that he wasn't surprised to see the Lakers blow away an early lead in their latest loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
LA built a nine-point advantage against a short-handed Memphis team in the first quarter. However, they couldn't hold on to it, eventually losing the tie 95-108.
Vogel seemed frustrated after the loss and did not hold back when Dan Woike of the LA Times asked him if he was surprised when the veteran group of Lakers players let up after earning an early lead. Here's how the Lakeshow head coach responded (via Kyle Goon):
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised. I've seen it with our group this year. You know we have to keep our foot on the gas and continue to play. You hope that it's not like that, that's not the case, but you know we have seen it with this group and we just got to find a way to prevent that from happening."
"We're going to continue to have disappointing losses as long as we turn the ball over like that." Frank Vogel on the #LakeShow's 22 turnovers vs. Memphis. @LakersReporter https://t.co/R0qnYH5Wdz
Frank Vogel has been heavily scrutinized for the LA Lakers' underwhelming start to the 2021-22 NBA campaign. Some of his rotations have been questionable thus far. However, that was always going to be the case as he has had to work with at least 10 new players this year.
LA Lakers commit 22 turnovers in loss to Memphis Grizzlies
The LA Lakers have been showing improvement over the last few matches, especially when it comes to their ability to take care of the ball. They recorded roughly 12 turnovers per contest over their last four to five matches, which was way lower than their season average of 16.1.
However, they weren't able to replicate that in their match against the Memphis Grizzlies. The turnovers proved to be the LA Lakers' Achilles heel once again as they conceded 27 points off 22 turnovers.
Sloppy passes, slow movement and a stagnant offense made things worse for LeBron James and co. as the young Grizzlies managed to capitalize on their opponent's mistakes.
"27 points off of turnovers, you can't afford to do that on the road." @JamesWorthy42 and the post-game panel react to a lackluster performance from the #LakeShow. https://t.co/CjIElqNsWk
The LA Lakers have struggled to produce consistent performances throughout their 26-game journey so far. Their longest winning streak this season has been for a stretch of just three games, which has happened only once thus far. Considering their easy schedule strength, the Lakers were expected to perform much better.
Frank Vogel's team is now slowly running out of time. If they are to compete against teams like the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns, they will have to play with more sense of urgency, starting with their next game.