A photograph of him making his NBA debut was framed and displayed underneath his locker in the visiting team’s locker room. That game, which marked the beginning of a career that would go on to include four NBA titles and the all-time scoring record in the NBA, took place in the same city and on the same date as the third game that the Lakers have played so far this season.
“When I was a child!” Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 20-year-old rookie, stated this as he was in the cubicle adjacent to LeBron James’ locker.
He was three months old when James played his first NBA game.
The passage of time, when viewed like this, can be wild — more than half of James’ life having been spent playing professional basketball, with so little changing in terms of his consistent dominance.
However, time might also work in a different way.
Even though the majority of last year’s roster is back for the Lakers and they are only three games out from the Western Conference Finals, things seem to be going differently so far this season.
In the pregame press conference, head coach Darvin Ham stated that the club was still “tinkering” with 10-man rotations, searching for the optimal formula for a group that appeared to have only made little adjustments here and there.
The investigation into that matter will go on.
Even after James forced overtime by making a sweeping layup on Sunday, the Lakers missed too many shots and squandered too many chances, resulting in a loss to the Kings in overtime by a score of 132-127. The game took place in Sacramento.
The squad will play the Magic again in the second game of a back-to-back set, which will take place in Los Angeles this time.
During the Lakers’ loss to the Kings by a score of 132-127 in overtime on Sunday, Lakers big Anthony Davis (left) maintains control of the ball in front of Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (right). (Photo by Rocky Widner / NBAE; made available via Getty Images))James scored 27 points, seven of which came in overtime, although the Lakers only made two of their 10 three-point attempts in the fourth quarter and overtime.
James led the team in scoring with his seven points scored in extra time. James also committed eight turnovers, including one at the beginning of overtime and one at the end of the game.The Lakers were led in points by Anthony Davis, who had 30.The Lakers were behind by a double-digit margin for the third game in a row during the first quarter of play, which made it difficult for the team to create an offensive rhythm while playing against the grain of the scoreboard.In the second half, they were ultimately able to seize the lead, thanks in large part to the hot shooting of Taurean Prince, while the squad also proceeded to rack up trips to the free throw line.
Malik Monk’s 11 points in overtime were the difference for Sacramento, despite the fact that Domantas Sabonis committed a foul and De’Aaron Fox struggled with foul trouble. It is likely that Sunday’s game in Sacramento felt like it lasted Austin Reaves twenty times as long as it actually did. After clear looks from three and the midrange rimmed in and then squirted out, the third-year guard, who spent his summer playing for Team USA, was unable to get a shot to fall. He looked to the ceiling after clean looks from three and the midrange rimmed in and then squirted out.He concluded the game with a field goal percentage of one for 12 and a three-point shooting percentage of one for eight, making it the second worst shooting game in his professional career.In the end, the Los Angeles Lakers failed to make 30 of their attempts at three-point field goals.