The Los Angeles Lakers won six of their last seven heading into the All-Star break and a major part of that was the offense firing all in cylinders, particularly with Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura elevating their play.
This recent stretch could not have come at a more opportune time than now due to the Lakers having to fight for playoff positioning. Despite missing defensive personnel, L.A. is treading water and guys are stepping up to fill those voids, which is greatly needed.
Now with the purple and gold returning to action on Thursday, it is important to maintain this level of play as the season winds down. Reaves emphasized that they need to continue to play the game the right way if they want to find themselves in the postseason.
“I think it’s just continuing to play the game the right way,” Reaves said after practice on Wednesday. “It’s not much rocket science behind it, it’s just if we have to, we’ll go back and watch the games where we played well and just replicate that. You can’t control always making shots or missing shots and all that but you can control effort and playing the right way.”
It feels like deja vu as the Lakers find themselves in an uphill climb to get into the top six of the Western Conference after the All-Star break. But Reaves and the Lakers have been in this position before and know what they are doing is not impossible.
“It’s a new season, for sure. But you can definitely look back and see the position that we were in last year and how we finished the season, carrying that momentum into the playoffs,” he said. “So yeah, you can definitely look back and kind of think back to how we were successful going down the stretch and apply that to what we’re doing now.”
There is not much room for error for L.A. as only 26 regular season games remain. But with Anthony Davis and LeBron James on the team, anything is possible. However, they cannot do it alone as Reaves and company will have to continue to support the two stars.
As much as the Lakers have been consistently inconsistent, sustaining this level of playing is vital. Reaves is keeping it simple with his approach and his teammates should feel the same way. Playing with effort and energy is something that they can control and if consistent, it will result in wins.
Austin Reaves: Lakers ‘confident’ in roster they have
Coming into this season with lofty expectations, things have not panned out up to this point. With standing pat at the trade deadline, it resulted in some uncertainty moving forward, but Reaves is still ‘confident’ in the roster.
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