Since being hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, JJ Redick has experimented plenty with lineups and rotations. Notably, he recently put Austin Reaves as the main ball-handler, taking on more point guard responsibilities.
Thankfully, Max Christie found himself once again as a much-needed 3-and-D presence to relieve defensive pressure off Reaves. Then, Rui Hachimura is a bigger body that can occasionally give L.A. extra opportunities and be a worthy fourth-scoring option.
However, with Dorian Finney-Smith entering the fold, the Lakers’ defense is continuing to improve. But following Friday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, Redick was not pleased with his team’s execution in the first half and Reaves would agree with him.
“Yeah. I mean, I would agree with him,” he said. “I don’t feel like we played a good first half of basketball, but we were still winning. And when you do that, you can take things that you were doing well to have that lead, and then you stack it on top of the things that you could do better. And that’s when you become a dangerous team, win games that you’re not technically supposed to win, or you feel like you didn’t play good enough to win, and then you turn around and try to go play a perfect game and just continue to grow and get better.”
While it may sound discouraging, Reaves believes that everyone is working towards becoming a great team with their new pieces in place.
“We’re a ways, to be honest with you, but everybody’s working in the right direction to becoming that,” Reaves said. “He said that at halftime tonight, he was like. He came in, basically said that he was disappointed in some of the game plan, discipline stuff, and then when we was about to go out, he was like, basically, the reason I’m saying that is because I want to be a great team. I don’t want to just be a good team and adding Doe and Shake [Milton]. It’s going to take time for them to really 100% understand everything that we’re trying to do.
“I feel like they’ve done a great job these last two games. But we’ve thrown them in the fire, and they’re kind of out there just playing hard right now. And once they fully understand exactly what we’re doing, as long as everybody else learning to play with them, it’s going to be good for us. And you always strive to be great.”
Despite these concerns, Reaves is enjoying how they are playing as of late with their unselfish mindset.
“I’ve really enjoyed the way we’ve played basketball the last 10 or so games,” Reaves added. “Not that I wasn’t before, but I feel like everybody’s in a good rhythm. Everybody feels good. Everybody’s touching the ball, and it’s moving. Everybody’s making the swing-swing when you have the opportunity. It’s just unselfish basketball, and that’s the way you need to play. Yeah, but it’s not about me, and it’s about everybody putting me in positions to be successful, the coaching staff, players, obviously making shots. And I’m kind of just out there passing it to the open person.
“But like I said, it’s not about me. It’s about the collective group that we have, and continuing to try to play the game the right way. And obviously Bron and AD helped me in so many ways that the average basketball fan probably doesn’t see, so sometimes my life is a lot easier than what it probably really seems with them two out there and everybody else as well.”
Integrating new pieces midseason is never easy, but the Lakers have been figuring it out on the fly while winning games. Nonetheless, the makings of a good team are starting to come to fruition and hopefully, L.A. can get to that point.
Anthony Davis: Lakers have ‘utmost confidence’ in Austin Reaves as point guard
While the writing was on the wall for Austin Reaves to become the team’s starting point guard, it still requires a massive learning curve. But, Anthony Davis has the ‘utmost confidence’ in Reaves as the lead ball handler for the Lakers moving forward.
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