Towards the end of most matchups for the Lakers, there always seems to be more urgency to score or make blocks, especially if L.A. is losing. Although, that does not always seem to work for this team. The Lakers have become known this year for their slow starts that eventually get enough momentum to create a close game. With that said, even with these close games, the Lakers have fallen short many times because they just cannot make the stops where it counts.
After Friday night's loss of 119-115 to the Clippers, Carmelo Anthony did not hold back on recognizing that the Clippers played well.
"They executed a couple plays down the stretch," said Anthony.
"Luke Kennard hit a big shot, Morris hit a bang shot. One shot that Luke hit, AD was all over it, he made it. Morris hit a bang shot, tip your hat off to him. We was right there."
As tough as it was to lose against the Clippers, Carmelo Anthony is not shy from telling it how it is. Even though defensively the Lakers made some pretty good plays, the Clippers outdid them.
Carmelo Anthony continued and talked about how the team felt as the game was coming to an end.
"We felt it, we felt the momentum change. We felt the momentum come into us. Our defense was solid for the most part down the stretch and it just came down to those couple plays that they executed well."
Carmelo Anthony, who has been in the league for a long time understands there is still work to do, but the Lakers will just have to continue to try to improve for their next game. If the Lakers could keep that momentum and drive that they always seem to find towards the end of the game and let it fuel them throughout each quarter, they would have a better record than 12-12.
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