It has been an up-and-down season for the Los Angeles Lakers, struggling to try to find any kind of consistency. Head coach Darvin Ham has been trying to find the right combination in the starting lineup around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Monday featured another lineup change as Ham went back to the starters that began the season in Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Taurean Prince, James and Davis. Four out of the five starters were in double figures and each starter had three or more assists.
That ultimately resulted in a much-needed win over the Thunder, 112-105, as the Lakers look to finally stack some wins with this second homestand. James detailed what this starting lineup needs to do to continue being successful.
“Obviously offensively, we want to share the ball and not turn the ball over. AD is always our focus offensively, getting him going early and often,” James said. “Then defensively, we have to be on a string and help one another. And we have to help AD rebound. When we do that, we can be a pretty good five-man lineup.”
As mentioned, the ball movement was great as L.A. had 30 assists on 44 made field goals. James believes sharing the ball and having a pace to their offense will be key for them moving forward.
“I think our ball movement and pace is very key. We try not to play late into the clock, give ourselves an opportunity to get really good looks. I think when we don’t turn the ball over, I know we had some late ones and we had some ones that were unforced,” he said. “But when we have high assist games where guys are feeling in rhythm, it’s a pretty good game for us. So we got to try and look at that and try to be more consistent with that.”
During this recent stretch, the Lakers have struggled to put up a well-rounded performance on both sides of the ball and Monday’s win featured that, which James and the team can look back at on film and apply moving forward.
“It’s an ingredient for us to win and if we look at the film and see ways we were really good offensively and defensively, we can try to apply that to the next man. It’s all about that.”
Now at the halfway point of the season, L.A. is in a similar position to last year as they try solidifying themselves in a compact Western Conference.
While it is not ideal for the team to still try to figure out which starting lineup looks best, it seems that integrating Reaves and Russell back as starters alongside James and Davis may have been the solution all along.
LeBron James among NBA stars thanking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday was also a special holiday as it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, during which the NBA hosts games to celebrate his legacy. James and other NBA stars thanked Luther King Jr. for what he did, inspiring change in the United States.
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