As if the Los Angeles Lakers scoring 150 points against the Indiana Pacers wasn’t impressive enough, they also did so without their third leading scorer, D’Angelo Russell. Of course LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the way, but with Russell out due to illness, the Lakers turned to Spencer Dinwiddie for the start and he delivered in a huge way.
In his second start in a Lakers uniform, Dinwiddie contributed 26 points and five assists on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. There had been questions about Dinwiddie who hasn’t had the best offensive showings since joining the team, but his Lakers teammates regularly said that Dinwiddie was more than capable when the team needed him and LeBron believes this performance showed exactly that.
“That just shows what type of player he is and the person he is to be able to adjust his game to whatever the game fits and needs,” LeBron said after the win. “And tonight we needed him to score and be aggressive. You asked me the other day about how to unlock him, and I told you I wouldn’t tell you. He did it tonight.”
Dinwiddie is a player used to having the ball in his hands, but the Lakers haven’t asked him to do that much. But with Russell out, there was a need for him to step into that old role and he did so seamlessly. Davis noted the Lakers needed him to be aggressive and Anthony Davis echoed that.
“Just being aggressive,” Davis responded when asked what he saw from Dinwiddie. “I said last game, he started to find his way and he was aggressive last game. He just carried that over by being himself. Hit some 3s, attacking the basket. Being the Spencer that we need him to be.”
Obviously Dinwiddie won’t be putting up this kind of offensive effort every night, especially with Russell back in his starting role. But the aggressive mindset is something that the Lakers need and Davis made it clear that this team needs Dinwiddie to continue to play like this for the rest of the year.
“Very important. How he played tonight, we’re gonna need him to play like that for the rest of the season,” Davis added. “Instant offense. He can score whenever he want. He’s a big guard. He can defend.
“If he plays like that, add DLo back into the mix, and other guys get healthy, we’re going to be a tough team to beat. And we get that depth that everybody was talking about and then we want to have coming into the season. So adding a guy like Spence only helps us, but we’re going to need him to be the Spence he was tonight.”
Dinwiddie gives this Lakers team an excellent reserve option and if they can get healthy with players such as Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent returning, the Lakers can give a lot of teams fits down the stretch and into the postseason.
Spencer Dinwiddie says encouragement from Lakers teammates inspired him
The performance from Dinwiddie against the Pacers validated a lot of what his Lakers teammates have been saying over the past weeks. And that encouragement from his teammates is what really inspired Dinwiddie to have the game he did.
“I mean, every good game obviously inspires confidence,” Dinwiddie said. “Overall, I would say that the guys being so encouraging and wanting me to play well has been the most inspiring thing. Them having my back is big time.”
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