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Kobe Bryant defends Lakers’ poor show in LeBron James’ absence

Utkarsh Bhatla
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LA Lakers are witnessing how gloomy life can be without LeBron James, as they are now 1-5 since LeBron suffered that groin injury in the historic Christmas day win against the Warriors.

But since then, the Lakers have lost direction, something that was very aptly captured in their last game against the Timberwolves, where in they were playing catch up all through to the final quarter.

Lakers have been struck with an injury problem, as LeBron James is out with a groin injury, Rajon Rondo has had surgery on his right ring finger and Kyle Kuzma has suffered a back contusion.

That combined with a slump in form for Lonzo Ball(who did not score agains the Timberwolves) has given Luke Walton a lot to think about.

There have been multiple reports about how the Lakers backroom staff and the management have been forced to discuss Luke Walton’s role post LeBron’s injury and if he is good enough for the job going into the business end of the season.

Luke Walton has expressed his displeasure over Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram not showing the right amount of passion in the last few games.

“They’re trying but they’re young,” he explained.

“At some point, we need more passion. We need more fight. And that’s not scoring more. That’s more diving for loose balls, communicating loudly, grabbing (rebounds).

“Brandon had some really nice crack-back rebounds tonight that we can get out and run (from). We need that all the time from him.

“So, it’s not just them but until we get healthy again, you got to play in this league with some passion and fire. It’s hard to win in this league when you are healthy.

“So you need to double that effort when guys are down.” he added.

Now, while Luke Walton has asked for more from his players, a lot of the Lakers fans feel that Luke Walton seems clueless without LeBron James and should be replaced before it is too late.

Now, while twitter might want Luke Walton fired, Kobe Bryant has his back, and has blamed everyone in that Lakers outfit for the no-show in the last few games.

Bryant was nonchalantly using twitter, tweeting about the Philadelphia Eagles’ playoff win against the Chicago Bears, when he also had to school a fan about the latest happening around the Lakers.

The fan replied saying. “Tell that to Luke Walton”.

“Relax,” Bryant replied.

“Entire squad is damn near out. Were playing pretty well before that.” he added.

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