The Los Angeles Lakers got back in the win column on Sunday evening by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in relatively comfortable fashion. Even without LeBron James in the lineup, Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell were stellar and helped lift L.A. to the victory.
It was a much-needed win after the Lakers had lost three straight and seven of their previous nine games. They looked non-competitive in two of those losses and had to re-evaluate plenty about both their offense and defense amid the losing stretch.
And while beating Portland doesn’t necessarily provide the Lakers with all the answers they were looking for, it is a nice sigh of relief to see them get a comfortable win. Davis spoke about the team being able to return to their identity in the win.
“We just take the minutes of what we’re doing,” Davis said. “Even though they got to a fast start in third quarter, we kind of just stayed together and was able to combat that run with our own. DLo hot hot. Rui [Hachimura] played phenomenal. We just was able to kind of get back to Laker basketball, and we were able to get the win.”
The Lakers star was proud of the way his teammates stepped up with LeBron James missing his first game of the season. That was specific to Hachimura and Russell, who combined for 51 points in the win.
“I mean, next man up. I mean, that’s why we have a team. Other guys had to step up,” Davis said. “Rui stepped up. DLo stepped up. Guys have to step up when we have a guy like Bron out. Guys took on a challenge tonight, even though it was a last-minute scratch.
“This is what guys prepared for. Guys got a chance to play a little bit more minutes then they probably wouldn’t. They do what they were supposed to do to get their jobs. It was a team effort tonight.”
In getting back to their identity, the Lakers were able to score with relative ease, even if the 107 final score doesn’t necessarily reflect an elite offensive performance. But it compares extremely well to some of their recent outings. Davis spoke about what went on in those games.
“Sometimes. We talk about it as a group, but we don’t have time to dwell on it. Got to play another game. So we have time off. We talk about it and try to look at how we played those games, ball movement, body movement, screening, like all those things will be really good at early on in the season. And there was slippage with guys in and out of lineup.
“And a lot of it comes from a drop in our defense, just being so terrible at defense, and now, kind of affects your offense, because everybody tried to do the right thing, and make a play for themselves or others, but we just wasn’t organized in the next stretch. So that’s why we dropped off.
“But I mean, the last two games, tonight and against Atlanta, we were organized. We run our sets. We’re screening well. Guys getting shocked that we had gotten the first couple games deceiving. So it’s not rocket science. We just got to continue to play how we how we’ve been playing the last couple games and we’ll be alright.”
The Lakers are by no means a finished product, but winning games allows them to look at film and figure out very pointed and specific adjustments, as opposed to just needing to play better in every facet. Wins like Sunday also keep the Lakers afloat in an extremely crowded and difficult Western Conference.
Anthony Davis believes Lakers are trending in right direction
The Lakers previous loss came against the Atlanta Hawks. After a few lackluster outings, that wasn’t the case in the Hawks game as Anthony Davis and LeBron James led a spirited effort, but it still didn’t end in a Lakers victory.
Davis finished with 38 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and two blocks while LeBron posted a 39-point triple-double, but the Lakers fell in overtime by two points. Trae Young hit the game-winning 3-pointer after a Lakers’ defensive miscommunication left him wide open and he made them pay.
Afterwards, Davis spoke about what the Lakers need to do to turn things around. The big man feels they must continue to trust each other, while noting they can live with the results as long as they are playing the right way.
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