The Los Angeles Lakers picked up their fourth straight win and seventh in their last eight games as they defeated the Chicago Bulls, 142-130. While Luka Doncic’s performance will get most of the attention, as will LeBron James’ return from injury, the play of Deandre Ayton should not go unnoticed.
Ayton picked up his second consecutive double-double, finishing with 23 points and 10 rebounds, just two days after a strong 14-point, 12-rebound night in the win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ayton’s play is one of many reasons why the Lakers have climbed to the 3-seed in the Western Conference.
The Lakers center, referring to the entire roster’s turnaround recently, feels the team is just playing harder than they were earlier in the year.
“We’re playing really hard. We’re playing with a sense of urgency and we’re playing together,” Ayton said after the win over the Bulls. “I think we’re emphasizing competitiveness, we’re competing in every aspect. Effort, 50/50 chances and just really attacking the ball on both ends and closing out these possessions and just being pretty scrappy.
“Teams have been coming in and throughout the whole season teams have been winning that scrap game and that effort game. So I feel like we’ve tightened it up to where it’s become a thing of us.”
There have undoubtedly been times where the Lakers have lost simply because the other team has wanted it more and out-worked them. Whether it is loose balls, offensive rebounds or defensive focus, the Lakers have not always played the hardest and it has cost them.
Many would look directly at Ayton as one of the main culprits of this as his energy and focus has been inconsistent. But the big man feels like he has picked that up as of late and caught up with his teammates in that sense.
“Felt like I picked up my energy and my focus,” Ayton added. “You know, I finally caught up with the team. That’s about it.”
Ayton has the physical tools to be a dominant force when he is locked in, but he has been touch-and-go when it comes to that, which has been an issue for most of his career. But if he can remain locked in and give the Lakers consistent energy and effort on the glass and the defensive end especially, the Lakers become a much more dangerous team.
LeBron James says he can adapt his game to whatever the Lakers need
The return of LeBron James was another reason for the Lakers’ strong performance against the Bulls and he took a bit of an offensive backseat, instead focusing on picking up slack in other areas due to the team being down multiple important role players. And LeBron emphasized the fact that he can adapt his game to whatever the team needs in order to be successful.
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