The Los Angeles Lakers have been a middle-of-the-pack team throughout the first 20 or so games of the season, currently sporting an 11-11 record, good for 7th in the Western Conference.
Going into the season, many thought that the Lakers would be one of the best teams in the NBA, but that hasn't quite happened for them yet. While they have a lot of individual talent on the roster, things just haven't gone right for them. It should be noted though, that LeBron James did miss a fair amount games with injury.
Kendrick Perkins has recently stated that the reason the Los Angeles Lakers are struggling is due to the fact that nobody is scared of that team. In fact, Perkins even claimed that the Lakers have a "target on their backs".
People are not scared of the Lakers. These young ballclubs, you take the Memphis Grizzlies, the Utah Jazz, you got the Phoenix Suns... they not running from the Los Angeles Lakers. Matter of fact, they want to play the Lakers. They embrace that role of playing the Lakers.
The Lakers have to realize that they have a target on their backs, although they're not even the champions. They have a target on their back because of the hype that they get, and because they have all those guys and a stacked team.
It makes sense that teams would be motivated to beat the Los Angeles Lakers due to the players on that roster. We often see players play better than usual in marquee matchups, so perhaps this is what Perkins is alluding to.
Perhaps the Los Angeles Lakers will end up turning things around, but they do need to figure some things out quickly. They have the talent to be a contender, but it's about putting it all together and becoming a more cohesive unit.
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