ICYMI: Patrick Beverley flexes on LeBron James as Minnesota Timberwolves dominate the struggling LA Lakers
Patrick Beverley and the Minnesota Timberwolves didn't miss the opportunity to use their homecourt advantage against LeBron James and the LA Lakers on Wednesday. The T'Wolves came out swinging to start the match and dominated the 17-time NBA champions, taking a 25-point lead midway through the contest.
The Timberwolves kept building pressure on the Lakers and even trash-talked the veteran group throughout the night. Beverley in particular was in the spotlight in this regard on several occasions.
He even flexed on LA's co-captain LeBron James after a successful play, rallying Minnesota's home crowd to get under the skin of Frank Vogel's side. Here's a clip of Beverley's celebration in front of James (via Bleacher Report):
LeBron James and LA Lakers drop to 10 games below .500 mark following loss against Minnesota Timberwolves
The LA Lakers' miserable run post the All-Star break continued on Wednesday as they suffered a 104-124 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers have now lost 10 of their last 13 games.
LeBron James and Co. have failed to record consecutive wins since January 8. Since then, they have lost 12 road games in a row. The Lakers were hoping to turn their poor form around post the All-Star break, but with a 2-9 record since then, any hopes of doing that seem extremely slim.
They struggled with another slow start during their loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They went into the break with a 21-point deficit that soon extended to 25. Vogel's side managed to cut that down to six points entering the fourth quarter, but couldn't keep the momentum going down the stretch and eventually lost the tie by a 20-point margin.
LeBron James had an off-night himself as he scored only 19 points on 21 shot attempts. He has been playing through a knee injury but despite that, has been the LA Lakers' best player, amassing multiple 50-point games in the second week of March.
The Lakers desperately need other players to share the load with the 37-year-old, especially before Anthony Davis is cleared to play again.
As Billy Mac just noted, LeBron's streak of 20+ point games will end at 32. The last time he didn't reach 20 was on Dec. 17 -- in Minnesota.
The LA Lakers were hoping Russell Westbrook would carry that responsibility, but he has struggled the most to adapt to playing alongside James. Meanwhile, the rest of the group has been inconsistent as well, leading to the Lakers' poor offense so far.
LA hasn't been able to make up for it on the defensive end either in Davis' absence. With only 13 games left in the regular season, the Lakers will likely have to settle for the ninth or tenth spot in the Western Conference standings.
The 11th seeded San Antonio Spurs are only 2.5 games behind the Purple and Gold. This means the LA Lakers also face the possibility of falling out of play-in tournament contention altogether.