3-point shooting sinks Lakers again; Russell Westbrook benched late

play

When asked if he'd have to manage any backlash with the point guard from his decision, Darvin Ham was adamant.

We don't have time for feelings. "We're trying to turn this thing around, like, we're 0-3 on the season, so that's what we're trying to do." I don't have time for someone to be in their feelings about when and where they should play.

With 4:42 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Lakers were leading by eight, and Ham was going to take the point guard out of the game. Portland scored 10 unanswered points over the next four and a half minutes.

L.A. struggled as a team down the stretch, shooting 3-for-9 overall and 0-for-4 from 3 -- contributing to a 6-for-33 day from the outside that brought the Lakers' season total to 25-for-118 on 3-pointers.

The miss came with 27.3 seconds left in the game and 18 seconds left on the shot clock. He missed a pull-up jumper that Jusuf Nurkic almost invited him to shoot, as L.A. held a 101-98 lead.

Chauncey Billups said that they were going to play off of Russ when they put him on Russ.

When asked about the shot, he said he was trying to execute a two-for-one -- a strategy to try to secure two offensive possessions before a quarter ends by looking for a scoring opportunity early in the shot clock. He had more of a problem with the shot location than the strategy.

"I would have liked to have attacked the rim directly," he said. Teams want you to take long 2s, and they want you to give up, what have you? With his ability to explode and get to the basket, I wish he would have done that. Especially with Nurkic getting five fouls.

We have to work on shot selection.

When asked about his philosophy on going for a two-for-one when you have the lead instead of playing from behind, he said, "I don't like playing from behind."

James felt that the interview was an attempt to set him up to say something. I can tell you are in the same category as Russell. I want to win. I don't like losing at anything. I hate to lose and I don't care what happens during my season or career. The way we played this game was special. Thanks to Portland.

You can write about Russ, but I am not up here to do that. I'm not going to do it. I have said it many times. That isn't my thing. That isn't who I am.

James responded to a question about how he seeks to manipulate opposing defenses in a way that was telling.

"I always have time and score and what's going on and how the defense has been playing me throughout the game, it's always in my head." I am not out there just running around.

Anthony Davis had a strong game with 22 points, 10rebound, 6 block and was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

The shot-making has not been good and the defense has been good. The big difference is that.

The team's mood was "s---ty" according to James.

If you're around a group of guys that are excited after a loss, that's the worst business that you can do. That's the mood at the moment. I have what I have here. I will leave it here once I leave the tunnel.

On Wednesday and Friday, L.A. will travel to play the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Wolves.

There's no way we're going to lose this game. That's where I get frustrated.