After dropping Game 5 on the road, the Los Angeles Lakers return home looking to close out the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers are undefeated at home this postseason, but no game will be harder than this one as the defending champs would love to force a Game 7 back at Chase Center, which would give them an opportunity to come back from being down 3-1 in the series to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
Knowing it won’t be easy, D’Angelo Russell discussed what the keys will be for the Lakers coming away with a victory in Game 6.
“Just being focused,” Russell said after Game 5. “I think as a group, just being focused. You can’t have one guy not locked in or two because the trickle down affects you. Trying to come with that aggression as a unit, defensively and offensively and I think it will take care of the small things.”
This is familiar territory for the Lakers as they faced the same situation in the first round against the Memphis Grizzlies. After going up 3-1, the Lakers dropped Game 5 on the road before returning home and dominating Game 6 to the tune of a 40-point victory to close out the series.
Although the Lakers can lean on that experience, Russell cautioned that the focus needs to be on what is in front of the Lakers, not what is behind them.
“It’s one game at a time, honestly. You try to lose yourself in your focus, try not to really get caught up in all of the other stuff going into it. Just lose yourself in the focus and you look up and we’ll get that one game that we need.”
Russell has had an up-and-down series to this point, but the Lakers usually fare well when he is scoring and getting the crowd going so hopefully that will be the case in Game 6 on Friday night just like it was in Game 6 against the Grizzlies when he had 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting.
James discusses opportunity in front of Lakers in Game 6
LeBron James is no stranger to playing against the Warriors in the playoffs, so he knows how difficult it will be to close them out. After the Game 5 loss, James discussed the opportunity the Lakers have in front of them on Friday night.
“I mean, every moment is its own challenge and is its own game and is its own opportunity to see what you’re made of, and we can’t base last series on to this series. This series is different. The opponent is different. The challenges is different.
“Friday is another opportunity for us to see where we are, to see what we’re made of, and to go out there with I guess the grit and the fight that we’ve had since we came together after the All-Star break, very resilient team, and we respond well to adversity, and we look forward to that, to getting an opportunity to play again on Friday.”
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