Wins have come in very short supply for the Los Angeles Lakers. At just 4-10 on the season so far, things have not gone according to plan… but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been good moments in between.
In L.A.’s comeback win over the Pistons on Friday, for example, Austin Reaves made sure to take notice of his team’s penalty advantage, which helped secure the game at the free-throw line in the final stretch of the game.
“We’re in the bonus.”
Austin Reaves was letting the entire team know they were in the bonus with 8:00 to go in the 4Q.
AD proceeded to hit 8 FTs en route to 16 points in the 4th to close out the Pistons. 💯 pic.twitter.com/WoWQX24Vxp
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) November 19, 2022
It should be expected for a player to recognize things like that during the game, but the fact that a young guy like Reaves, who still has so little experience in the league, was able to pick up on that says volumes about how much he’s focused and willing to communicate with his teammates.
And for a Lakers season that has been anything but great, this is exactly the type of thing that they need more of.
Lakers’ Front Office Fears The Consequences Of Another Failed Season
The Lakers have yet to make a big move yet, but there is some real concern within the organization about their trajectory this season. There’s even more concern about what might happen if this continues for the whole season and the Lakers somehow end up giving the Pelicans a top lottery pick.
On top of everything, because head coaches function as team spokesmen in the modern game more than they ever have before, Ham is the one who is asked to explain, over and over and over, why the Lakers and their various future Hall of Famers avoided slinking into Week 5 of the 2022-23 campaign with a share of league’s worst record only by beating Brooklyn on Sunday night to halt a five-game skid.
There is already a palpable fear inside (what I still like to call) Staples Center that the Purple & Gold are careening toward a draft in June in which the New Orleans Pelicans are gleefully positioned to swap picks with L.A. as a condition of the Anthony Davis blockbuster deal in July 2019.
Every game has pretty much turned into a must-win scenario for the Lakers. The more losses they add from here on out will only put them into a deeper and deeper hole.
Hopefully, though, guys like Austin Reaves, Patrick Beverley, and Dennis Schroder will step up and provide the spark this Lakers team needs. If they keep making the right plays and talk to each other on both ends, it could lead to effective results.
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