Jordan Clarkson on Lakers’ woes: ‘We tend to relax’

Los Angeles Lakers’ guard Jordan Clarkson. AP

Earlier in the season, the Los Angeles Lakers were the surprise team of NBA’s tough Western Conference, with a respectable record of seven wins and five losses.

But the promising start has come to a screeching halt, as the California-based squad has significantly stagnated since then, dropping to 12th place with a meager 12-23 record.

Even more alarming is how the young team has the tendency to relax in games that they are ahead of—which usually lead to devastating defeats.

One of the Lakers’ young nucleus, Jordan Clarkson, admitted this fault and addressed the team’s complacency issues.

“We’ve just gotta grow up, to be honest with you,” the Filipino-American guard was quoted as saying in the Lakers’ official website.

Back-to-back games against the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat last week had the Lakers up as much as 19-points, only to squander the lead and eventually lose the game.

“When the game starts getting easy for us, we tend to relax. That’s when we’ve got to put the foot down and continue to do what we’re supposed to do,” he said.

The Lakers earned a much needed victory against the Clippers on Christmas day, but once again fell back to old habits and lost against the Jazz on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).

Overall, the team has lost eight out of their last 10 games, and is only above the underachieving Minnesota Timberwolves and struggling Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference standings.  Khristian Ibarrola