First off, Happy New Year. Let’s all strive towards our goals and resolutions.

So New Year, New Laker team, right? That’s what the Lakers and their fans hope.

LeBron James certainly ended 2022 with a bang. He scored 47 points in a near triple-double performance on his 38th birthday against the Atlanta Hawks. It’s just ridiculous how he’s still capable of this kind of performance (and really, he’s still having his usual season at such an old NBA age) when a lot of great players don’t even reach 15 years in the league, let alone 20.

The Lakers hope this can be a turning point. Well, they should follow it up by winning their first game of their calendar year. Who do they have on the last game of their road trip? The Charlotte Hornets, a team they should be able to beat… oh, wait a minute.

That’s right. The Hornets embarrassed the Lakers at Crypto.Com Arena two days before Christmas. It wasn’t a blowout or anything; in fact, it was a close game. But they fell short on a comeback that ended with LeBron James losing his shoe.

Charlotte is a type of team that the Lakers should beat. They had one of the worst records going into their first match-up. And they still have one of the worst records going into January 2nd. They’re slated at 10-27, the second worst in the league (and worse than the Rockets, who are the worst in the West). And their win over the Lakers didn’t exactly give them any momentum; they’re 1-3 since then.

LaMelo Ball went for 23-8-8 in the game at L.A. while P.J. Washington (24 points) and Terry Rozier (23 points) hit some big shots. Kelly Oubre, Jr. came off the bench with 19 points but he’s out for Monday’s game.

But it all comes down to getting up for this game for the Lakers. Be attentive. Be full of life. Have some energy. Charlotte took advantage of the Lakers’ seemingly lack of enthusiasm in the game at Crypto and led the game by as many as 16 points. Again, Lakers rallied back but the last few seconds didn’t go their way. And honestly, they should’ve never been in this position.

While the Hornets were as reckless with the ball as the Lakers were, they made use of those extra opportunities. Charlotte won the battle in points off turnovers, 34-11. There’s no doubt about the talent of the Hornets even with the bad record so for them to get extra possessions would definitely give them the upper hand.

As for the Lakers’ injuries, Anthony Davis is still out, of course. And Lonnie Walker IV is questionable; he missed the game against the Hawks on Friday.

However, a couple of things to watch for. Patrick Beverley has averaged 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting .484 from three in his last 8 games. So hopefully, his play is here to stay. Austin Reaves, who scored 20 against Charlotte, has had a terrible last two games. He was scoreless against Miami and only had 5 points against the Hawks. Reaves is 1 for 18 (.056) combined in those two contests. Let’s hope he snaps out of it on Monday.

So let’s see how the Lakers start out 2023. Will they be able to turn it around in time for a playoff run? Or are they going to be like one of those people that say they’ll go to the gym more this year, only to stop going after the first week (don’t feel insulted; I’ve done this many a time myself)?

How will the sequel fare between the Lakers and the Hornets? Maybe the good guys win this time around.