LeBron James says struggling Lakers need to show 'some sense of urgency'

The Los Angeles Lakers fell under .500 on Friday night by losing a third consecutive game, despite the return of LeBron James from an abdominal injury.

James, 36, scored 23 points with six rebounds in his first game back after missing eight contests, but it wasn't enough in a 130-108 loss to the Boston Celtics. After leading at halftime, the Lakers were outscored 70-47 in the second half.

"We damn sure need to play better, no matter who is in the lineup," James told reporters after the game, via ESPN. "We have our system, and we need to obviously fast-track it and get better with it so we can play, no matter who is out on the floor, we can play at a high level. ... There's no level of panic, but there should be some sense of urgency any time we take the floor."

A week ago, James' teammate Anthony Davis expressed his frustration with the way the Lakers played in a 107-83 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"We sucked," Davis said when asked about the team getting outscored 40-12 by the Timberwolves in the third quarter, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "No defense. Can't score. That's not just this third quarter, it's every third quarter we've played this season. We come out slow, lackadaisical offensively and defensively. We got to get it together."

James signed with the Lakers in 2018, and Davis was traded to the team a year later in 2019. The duo led the Lakers to a win in the 2020 NBA Finals. Earlier in 2021, the Lakers traded for nine-time All-Star and 2017 MVP Russell Westbrook.