The Lakers and LeBron James have experienced a turbulent few weeks. Los Angeles’s most recent peak was their victory in the NBA In-Season Tournament; however, they have gone 2-6 since then.

The Lakers suffered a disappointing 126-115 loss to the Celtics on Christmas Day, despite having clawed back from an early 18-point deficit.

Anthony Davis asserts that communication breaches have resulted from the implementation of a new starting lineup transition, an approach he previously supported.

“There are far too many errors, particularly in the transition tonight,” Davis told reporters after the contest. “We were cross-matched, which makes the situation a bit more difficult. While we’ve been exceptionally efficient with turnovers, the timing has been somewhat detrimental. However, we must simply hunker down defensively.

“Our lineup has changed; we’re not exactly a switching team, but we’re now involved due to the change in lineup.” That is possible, so miscommunication is present in some way. I propose simply adopting a defensive stance. I believe we can succeed on offense, but we need to improve our performance on defense.”

LeBron James, meanwhile, compared the Lakers’ poor health to that of the greatest teams in the NBA.

“At this time, I do not believe that we are in good health,” James stated. “I do not believe we are at a level where we can contend with the other elite teams until we further improve ourselves. “We are still in the process of determining how we wish to proceed with our approach to each game.”

At 16-15, the Lakers are presently ninth in the Western Conference. On their home court, they will confront the Charlotte Hornets.