LOS ANGELES – Coming into last Sunday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Lakers were down two starters in LeBron James and Austin Reaves due to injury. It’s been a recurring theme for them this season, but they were able to put away the Blazers with a 107-98 win. One player in particular who stepped up in a big way for the Lakers was Rui Hachimura.
During Rui Hachimura’s tenure with the Lakers, he’s been their third scoring option at times. With the Lakers needing offensive production amid the injury woes to LeBron James and Austin Reaves, Hachimura responded with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field.
Following the game, Hachimura spoke about what the Lakers did to get a much-needed win despite missing both James and Reaves.
“What we didn’t do this whole season, we did in this game,” Hachimura said. “The coaches told me I had to step up tonight, so I was ready for it. As a team, I think we were moving the ball well.”
One of the things in particular that the Lakers did against the Blazers that they haven’t done much of all season was call an ATO play for Hachimura. Lakers’ head coach JJ Redick joked that the last time that happened was back during the preseason.
“When LeBron was scratched, I went into my office and I put like seven ATO’s together that obviously didn’t involve him. One of which was for Rui which I don’t know if we’ve called an ATO for him since the preseason,” Redick said. “And we executed it, we scored. We ended up running that nine or ten times, I think they stopped it once. So I think that flexibility is important.”
No further updates are available as of publication regarding James and Reaves’ injuries, so the Lakers might want to keep prepping for things they haven’t done all season if they want to remain competitive in the meantime.
Rui Hachimura’s role for Lakers
Hachimura’s role since joining the Lakers via trade with the Washington Wizards has been to be a consistent scoring option, sometimes even the third scoring option. He’s been a double digit scorer for his career and the Lakers definitely needed his offensive production against the Blazers.
For much of the game against the Blazers, Hachimura was most effective with the ball in his hands and being able to isolate at the nail off a switch. Going to back to his college days at Gonzaga, it’s where he’s always been most effective.
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“Since I was in college, that’s literally my spot. . .that’s why I got drafted,” Hachimura said. “I like to play at the elbows, and it’s easier for me. There’s a lot of options. I can drive, I can just shoot over, and if somebody comes I can pass.”
It wasn’t just Hachimura’s offense though that was a major factor in the win. He finished with four steals and was very active on the defensive end all game. He acknowledged that it was a concerted effort to be more engaged on that end of the court.
“I was just trying to be aggressive. Defensively we’ve been struggling,” Hachimura said.
The Lakers resume play on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday before returning home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.