The Los Angeles Lakers scored their most impressive victory of the year earlier this month when they beat the Golden State Warriors by 20 points. On Wednesday night, the Warriors got their revenge, dropping 149 points on the Lakers in a 43 point victory. Thankfully for Nick Young and the rest of the Lakers, they won’t have to wait long to go for revenge themselves.
After enjoying Thanksgiving on Thursday, the Lakers will turn right around and host these same Warriors at Staples Center on Friday night and Nick Young believes his team will be ready when the ball goes up.
On Spectrum SportsNet (transcribed by Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters), Young spoke about the Lakers having something to prove when Friday night rolls around:
Nick Young on facing Warriors again Friday: "I know we’re going to come out more motivated…. We’ve got something to prove.” (on @SpectrumSN)
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 24, 2016
Even at 8-8, the Lakers are one of the major surprises of the early NBA season. When they defeated the Warriors it put the rest of the league on notice that the Lakers were for real. This most recent showing, however, is sure to cause many to pump their breaks on expectations for this team.
For Young, and the rest of the Lakers, Friday’s game is an opportunity to show that they can bounce back from an embarrassing performance. Even if they can’t beat the Warriors, putting up a competitive showing will show the rest of the league that the Lakers won’t wilt at the first sign of resistance this year.
Things will obviously be tough without point guard D’Angelo Russell for the next couple of weeks, as well as Julius Randle’s unknown status due to a hip pointer. If Young can help lead these Lakers to a respectable showing on Friday, and possibly even a win, it could be the boost the team needs to push through this rough stretch.
