What to make of the 2018-19 Lakers so far?
Nineteen games into the LeBron James era, they’re 11-8, with home and road wins against the Portland Trail Blazers, a franchise that’s kicked their asses of late in either location. They’ve also been swept by the Orlando Magic because they couldn’t stop Nikola Vucevic (fair enough) and D.J. Augustin (Wait, what?). They dealt the Denver Nuggets their first loss and nearly handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their (at the time) third win. They’ve won games by playing to their strengths. They’ve won games despite a seeming determination to trip over themselves.
Even amidst the season’s strongest stretch, the Lakers have been all over the map. They’re playing better, but not dramatically, making it hard to figure out what’s real moving forward.
For example, during this 8-3 November (so far), the Lakers’ win differential is +1.7, which isn’t just on the low end...
