The Los Angeles Lakers saw their playoff momentum stall in a heavy Game 4 loss, and LeBron James didn’t shy away from where things went wrong.
Despite staying within reach early, L.A.’s night quickly unraveled due to one major issue – turnovers.
“We did a good job in the second quarter and kind of cutting into the lead. And then we had a few turnovers which was our kryptonite tonight,” James said postgame. “Obviously we know that coming into the series we have to protect the ball versus them and not have too many pick-sixes.
“Which we did all night. It started with, obviously, my turnovers are unacceptable. But we’ll do a better job with that Wednesday. We understand that offensive rebounds for them and pick-sixes are not gonna be good for our ballclub. You give them credit where credit is due. They won tonight.”
The Lakers coughed the ball up 23 times as a team, with James responsible for eight of those – his highest total of the postseason.
While some of that may have come from his heavy workload after logging big minutes in Game 3, the overall sloppiness proved too much to overcome.
James made it clear the defensive effort wasn’t the issue, it was everything happening on the other end of the floor.
“Defense wasn’t our problem tonight. It was the offense. We turned the ball over 24 times for 30 points. Defense wasn’t our problem. It was offense,” James said.
“We knew and we understand that if we want to win this series then we have to protect the ball and we have to defensive rebound and obviously bring that toughness, which we did tonight. I’m not worried about that. But the turnovers obviously killed us from start to finish.”
Frustrations also spilled over late in the third quarter when Deandre Ayton was ejected following a flagrant foul, a decision that didn’t sit well with the Lakers’ veteran leader.
“That was ridiculous,” James said.
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