It has been a rough few weeks for the Los Angeles Lakers with injuries piling up left and right. Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, and Nick Young have all dealt with injuries making it difficult for new head coach Luke Walton with three starters in and out of the lineup.
Despite having three of his best players dealing with injury problems as of late, Walton has faith in the depth of his team. The Lakers have arguably the best bench in the NBA up to this point in the season, and he’s relied on that depth while being impressed with the outcome thus far, via Mark Medina of the OC Register:
“Our guys have proven that when their backs are against the wall they can step up for a challenge,” Walton said. “They did it tonight. That’s a great win against a very talented team.”
The Lakers did suffer a few blowout losses while dealing with injured players. Los Angeles fell to the Golden State Warriors twice in convincing fashion last week and were manhandled by the New Orleans Pelicans before last night’s game against the Chicago Bulls.
Fortunately, the Lakers were able to bounce back on Wednesday with a win in Chicago. Although it wasn’t pretty with 23 turnovers, Randle and company were able to come out on top.
One thing seems for certain about this Lakers squad; they’re as resilient a team as there is in the NBA this season. Los Angeles can never be counted out of games no matter who they’re facing as they continue to fight and claw in the second half regardless of the deficit.
At 10-10, this team has exceeded expectations with a potentially bright future ahead. The playoffs have become a realistic possibility for this squad and despite dealing with numerous injuries this team stays in the fight which will make them dangerous moving forward.