The Los Angeles Lakers continue to dominate the stretch run of the 2023-24 season as they picked up another win, this time against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Los Angeles came home after going 5-1 on their road trip and faced another tough Eastern Conference opponent in Cleveland. However, the Lakers took care of their business and were able to make it four straight wins and, more importantly, moved up to the No. 8 seed.
Anthony Davis sealed the win for L.A. in the fourth quarter because he came up big defensively. Davis has been dominant this season and looks like someone who’s ready for postseason basketball.
When explaining the team’s turnaround, Davis said the Lakers are enjoying playing together on the floor via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“I think the biggest thing I’ve said before I think we’re just having fun,” Davis said. “I think we were too uptight early on. Everybody’s trying to do the right thing, make the right play. You kind of start second-guessing yourself because you’re trying to do the right thing. Now we’re just playing freely. It’s like, we know ‘Lo is going to shoot his crazy threes, and he makes them. Bron gives a little iso, we know each other’s game at this point. And no one is complaining, or forming little huddles like, ‘What are we doing? What are we doing?’
“I think for the most part we’re playing together, playing freely. We’re not hesitant at all. If you’re open shoot the ball. We get on guys for not shooting the basketball, so I think when we instill that amount of confidence in each other our offense is going to click.”
To Davis’ point, Los Angeles looks a lot lighter on the court and is settling into a great groove on both ends of the floor. The team as a collective is playing with more joy and they do a good job of feeding off of that energy.
With only four games remaining on the schedule, the Lakers must continue to play the way they are if they want to continue climbing the standings.
LeBron James believes good health has led to more consistency for Lakers
Aside from having fun, L.A.’s also been able to remain relatively healthy as the core of the rotation’s been able to stay on the floor. LeBron James believes that good health has led to more consistency for the Lakers.