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Healthy...Alas!
The Los Angeles Lakers have a clean bill of health for the
first time all season.
In what has been a rollercoaster of a 1st half of
a season, the Lakers find themselves sure footed for the first time all
year. After a rough start that saw the
team drop as low as the 11th seed out West, the Lakers have clawed
their way back into playoff contention.
They currently sit in the 7 seed, just a half game back from the 6 seed Nuggets,
with some wind at their backs. The
Lakers brass is hopeful and confident the team can make a second half run,
perhaps even garnering home court advantage in a first playoff series. Let’s see what’s gone right for this team to
make their climb down the stretch of the first half.
Cade and Amen have been great all season, with a powerful
combination of scoring/playmaking, and defensive prowess. You’d be hard pressed to find a back court
tandem as young, high potential, and tantalizing as the Lakers duo across the
league. After the duo carried the team
through the early going, Zion Williamson made his Lakers debut and has not disappointed. Instead of carrying a heavy scoring load,
Zion’s been asked to handle a lot of playmaking duties for this Lakers squad. He’s averaging almost 5 assists per game,
along with over 20 points per, and though his scoring is “down” there just isn’t
the need for him to score at an exorbitant rate given his supporting cast. Zion’s previous career high assist per game
average was 2.9, and he has almost doubled that at the halfway point of this
season. His flexibility has allowed this
Lakers team to really mesh.
Then came Kawhi Leonard, who one might imagine might muck up
the offensive flow, but he’s done anything but that. Kawhi is a willing scorer, and he’s shown
that propensity in the early going for the Lakers, as evidence by a team high
51 point showing against the Jazz just a few weeks back. He’s no slouch when it comes to playmaking,
rebounding, or general scoring, but his true impact has come on the defensive
end. When combined with the defensive prowess
of Amen Thompson and Walker Kessler, the trio have formed one of the most
formidable defenses across the league, with each player having some serious switch
ability. While both Cade and Zion don’t
hang their hats on the defensive end of the court, the 5-some has made for some
good defensive basketball, able to get stops when needed down the stretch. The versatility and flexibility of each player
has been on display during their dominant run of late, including their current
7 game win streak.
The final piece of the puzzle looks to be in place this
coming week. Chet Holmgren is set to
return to the team after a length absence, which will allow the Lakers to put
Kessler back to the bench. With Holmgren
and Kessler, the Lakers possess one of the most dominant two-way front court duos
across the league, and should enjoy 48 minutes of dominant interior
presence. There may be some growing
pains as the Lakers add yet another scorer to the starting unit, but the
potential of this lineup is too much for coach JJ Redick to pass up early
on. Only time will tell how this unit
will fare, and if history is any indication, perhaps they are not long for
playing together, but the Lakers brass and their fans will enjoy the short-term
excitement of having a fully healthy team on the court for the first time this season. The belief internally is that the sky is the
limit for this group. After all,
rebuilds don’t last long in LA.
The expectation in LA is that the team will not stop here in
improving their odds for this coming off season. In what is said to be a regretful move by the
Lakers GM, the Lakers sent out Spencer Dinwiddie a few weeks ago and have been
left without a true 6th man since.
The Lakers are reportedly working the phones in search of a true point
guard to lead the 2nd unit, offering a plethora of bench names in
hopes of finding their man. We will almost
assuredly see one more move made by this team leading up to the deadline, but
don’t expect it to come from the starting unit.
“We feel good about our starting 5, and to have guys like Walker
Kessler, Derrick Jones Jr., and Wendell Carter Jr. coming off our bench is a huge
value to us, especially given the injury history of these guys. Sure, we’d like to have a secondary play
maker come over to balance the 2nd unit, but JJ has been great in staggering
our stars minutes to ensure we always have a scoring threat or two on the court
to balance some of our role players.” While
they may not yet be a finished product, one thing is for sure, the Lakers have their
eyes set on returning to the heights of the Western Conference, and the ultimate
goal is to go beyond where they were last year.
“Yeah, that taste won’t leave our mouths until we lift the trophy”, said
Cade Cunningham. Many in the city of Angeles
will look to him and his teammates to get the job done this time around.
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| Comments (1) | |||
| laddas 02/25 11:11 am | QN, Qtr. 3, #1 | ||