The NBA All-Star break will provide the Los Angeles Lakers with a chance to relax, regroup, and prepare for a push in the final weeks of the 2021-22 season.
L.A. has just one game left before the mid-season intermission, Wednesday’s clash with the Utah Jazz. They will enter the matchup having lost seven of the last nine games – but on the back of one of their best performances in recent weeks in the loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Head coach Frank Vogel said he hopes the positive trend will continue, and that his team will be able to get back in the win column before the All-Star break begins.
“We got into the break on a positive note,” Vogel said. “We played well enough to win against Golden State, but it didn’t go our way, so the focus is just getting one win.”
Vogel thinks the Lakers will benefit from the upcoming break, saying it usually has a refreshing effect on teams — unless they approach it on a long winning streak.
“But even then,” Vogel added, “it’s just a chance for guys to refresh, recharge their batteries. Let them get away from hearing their coach’s voice every day. Hearing each other’s voices every day and just an opportunity to step away.
“That reset is always good for your group and I don’t know if it’s better for this year’s team than anyone else, but I do think it’ll be good for our group.”
Back in the title-winning 2019-20 season, the Lakers went 10-3 after the NBA resumed following the All-Star break.
Austin Reaves praises Lakers’ veterans for not giving up on 2021-22 success hopes
Even though the Lakers haven’t fared as they hoped they would before the 2021-22 campaign started, they still want to get the most out of this season’s roster.
Austin Reaves gave credit to L.A.’s veterans for ensuring the Purple and Gold stay in a competitive mindset despite adversity.
“It’s just the way they conduct themselves on and off the floor,” Reaves said. “Things haven’t gone the way we wanted it to go so far, but nobody’s checked out. Nobody’s like ‘aw screw this, let’s focus on next year’ or whatever.
“We’re really just trying to figure out what we can do to be successful. Like you said, vets that have done this for a long time.”
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