Yes, there is still a lot of basketball left to be played in this 82-game NBA season. However, not many teams who have started 2-9 like this year’s Los Angeles Lakers have made the postseason.
History is not on the Lakers’ side when it comes to making the playoffs after a very sluggish start, but Russell Westbrook is staying consistent on the team’s goal. After four-straight double-digit losses, with the recent one being on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers, there is a lot to work on before competing in the spring.
After the most recent loss, Westbrook was asked about the timeline of the Purple and Gold’s playoff hopes despite the overall struggles the Lakers have had to start the season and he maintained that there’s still time to turn it around, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I think it’s early,” Westbrook said. “It’s a long year. I think the goal is obviously towards the end of the year is to be playing in the playoffs and then for a championship. But, you can’t look too far ahead. We have to focus on what we need to do now. Take one at a time, and go from there.”
Westbrook is right in that the Lakers do need to focus on the now before getting too ahead of themselves. One of those things to fix currently is how guards like Westbrook and a coach like Darvin Ham can feed Anthony Davis the basketball more.
The injury bug has once again affected the Lakers as LeBron James injured his groin in the loss to the Clippers. With James being hobbled, the offense not running through Davis and the shooting problems continuing to occur, the Lakers have a lot of work to do in order to accomplish their end-of-season goal.
Davis explains difference in defensive role as center
One of the stark personnel differences of the new-look Lakers is Davis playing in the center spot rather than his usual power forward position.
With the Lakers’ lack of a floor-spacing and stretch-big center like Thomas Bryant, who is still recovering from a thumb injury, Ham has schemed Davis to try and be as dominant at the five like he was at the four during the Purple and Gold’s championship run.
When asked about the different defensive assignments as a center than power forward, Davis highlighted that one of the biggest differences between the two front-court positions is being able to roam off-the-ball and being manned up in actions such as the pick-and-roll.
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