LeBron James' slump appears to be over. The Los Angeles Lakers continue to struggle in a major way, however.
The veteran superstar went off on Wednesday night, putting up 29 points, eight assists and five rebounds against the Miami Heat, albeit in a 134-93 blowout loss. He also passed Kyle Korver on the all-time made threes list and now resides in seventh place:
Tyler Herro (31 points, 9-of-16 from three) led the way for the Heat, while Jimmy Butler added 17 points, nine boards and five assists. Anthony Davis was the superstar slumping for the Lakers on Wednesday, managing just eight points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field.
The Lakers have now dropped six of their last eight games, moving them to 12-10 on the season. Miami improved to 10-10.
"I'm embarrassed. We're all embarrassed," head coach J.J. Redick said after the contest. "It's not a game I thought we had the right fight, the right professionalism... I own this, but need some ownership on the court as well. There's not a sense from me that we're together right now."
The first-year coach plans to be proactive to fix the situation:
At least the vibes around James were more positive on Wednesday after he managed just 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting from the field against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night:
The vibes around the Lakers in general, however, are far less immaculate:
Things have gotten bad in Los Angeles. The Lakers have lost four of their last seven games by 20 points or more. It's one thing to lose—it's another to get consistently blown out.
James, meanwhile, came into the season saying he wants to play all 82 games, but his shooting woes before Wednesday's bounce-back effort had the team second-guessing that goal.
"I don't know that's in the best interest of him and us if he does that, but if he's feeling well and feeling good, then he should play," head coach Redick told reporters after Monday's loss. "But we obviously want to... manage that as best we can."
His previous struggles have been mirrored by his teammates.
"I've not seen us play the way we played earlier in the year," Redick said Monday. "I mean, I've got to spend all day tomorrow with my staff trying to figure out how we get back to that."
A 41-point loss against the Heat would suggest that Redick and his coaching staff haven't quite identified a solution just yet.
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