With a 25-16 record, the Los Angeles Lakers have officially reached the midway mark in their campaign. Although Luka Doncic has helped the team post some impressive performances through the first half, the superstar remains attuned to the reality of the situation.
The Lakers logged an impressive 110-93 win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night. Although Luka Doncic credited his team for a solid performance to close out the first half of the season, his post-game interview revealed higher expectations of the unit.
“It’s not a bad record,” Doncic said. “Obviously, it could be better. But sometimes you play like this, you play like we played against Atlanta, it gives us a better chance to win. So, just gotta look at those two games and play like that.”
Despite being a competitive unit on paper, the Lakers have been quite inconsistent lately. With a 5-5 record over the last 10 games, the Purple and Gold have faced some issues with putting together a winning streak.
This raises some concerns as the Lakers will be heading into an arduous eight-game road trip. However, Luka Doncic seemed quite optimistic about the team’s prospects.
“We’re getting paid to do this,” he commented. “Shouldn’t be any excuses. I know it’s going to be a lot of traveling, but we’re getting paid to do this. I love it.”
The Lakers will begin their road trip with a game against the Denver Nuggets, who have been competitive even without Nikola Jokic. With the team scheduled to play eight games on the road in 15 days, the Lakers’ resilience will be tested during this stretch.
Needless to say, this will pose a challenge to the unit. Given that this period right before the All-Star break is widely considered the toughest segment of the season for most teams, the Lakers have their work cut out for them.
On that note, JJ Redick shed more light on the team’s ability to adapt to difficult situations during his post-game media availability while acknowledging the challenges.
“This is a very tough time of year for everybody in the NBA right now,” Redick stated. “There are a number of teams that have rotation players, starter-level players, All-Star-level players, like us, that are out of the lineup or in-and-out of the lineup. It can make an already difficult stretch of the season even more difficult, and the guys have done a great job of just getting through this stretch and fighting.”
With convincing wins against the Hawks and Raptors recently, there is reason to believe that the Purple and Gold may have something to build on moving forward. The priority, however, will be finding consistency.
L.A.’s dependence on Luka Doncic and LeBron James to lead the team to victory each time hasn’t been productive. In this regard, Sunday night’s win against Toronto, which featured a historic performance by Deandre Ayton, along with some vital contributions from the bench, may form a better template.
With hopes of regaining their place among the best teams in the West, the Lakers will hope to begin this journey with a win over the Nuggets to begin the second half of their campaign.
