The Los Angeles Lakers have been — almost unquestionably — the best team in basketball over the last six weeks. Since Jan. 15, the Lakers are 18-4 with the No. 1 overall defense and the No. 3 net rating. They’ve done this on the backs of stars LeBron James and Luka Doncic, of course, but have also seen incredible contributions from role players like Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, Dorian Finney-Smith and more.
Vincent has particularly stepped up for the Lakers in recent weeks. He has been an incredible defensive presence, and was even head coach JJ Redick’s pick to replace Austin Reaves in the starting lineup when he went down with injury. It’s unclear exactly how long Reaves will be out for, but Vincent can be steady in his place.
And part of the reason the Lakers have still been able to win with guys like Reaves and Rui Hachimura on the mend is because of the way guys are playing within the system and stepping up when called upon. Vincent explained exactly how he’s doing this in Reaves’ absence.
“Just trying to be ready to playmake a little more I think,” Vincent said. “Just depending on how the flow of the game is going, if Bron and Luka are on the court at the same time, if I need to touch the paint and spray, stuff like that. But for the most part, the game was more minutes for me.”
Being able to make that change and still get wins provides Vincent with confidence in what the Lakers are doing entering the final stretch of the season.
“Late in the year, you have to win some games in the mud,” he said. “I think we’ve had some stretches here now to be able to test our grit, test our willingness to fight through a lot. We’ve been doing that at a high level, so proud of the fight this group has been doing, we just need to keep it up.”
Vincent believes that this is a team-wide mentality, and it’s all a part of the identity that the Lakers are really beginning to form.
“I think we’re just playing very hard,” Vincent said. “We’re playing unselfish and I think everybody is kind of starting to understand their assignment. I think we all know what we’re looking for when we step out there on the court and that simplicity brings clarity and it allows us to just go out there and play hard. It’s been working so far, we just gotta keep it rolling.”
The combination of the game plan from coaches, hustle from the players and superstars doing what they do, it’s all working for L.A.
“I’ve said it before, the coaches are coming up with great game plans and we’ve been executing them,” Vincent said. “Guys have been flying around. There’s times where we put in a quote-unquote small lineup out there and that makes us a little faster, but we have to work a little harder. We gotta box out on the boards, we gotta crash and Bron and Luka have been rebounding the ball at a high clip when we do go small. So it’s been great for us, but like I said, we’re just competing at a high level right now. We’re playing together.”
The Lakers are seeing the results of all of this by rising all the way to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Not only that, they are alone in the loss column with a one-loss buffer on the Denver Nuggets, a two-loss gap with the Memphis Grizzlies and three losses between them and the Houston Rockets.
JJ Redick wants Lakers to avoid Play-In Tournament
The Lakers, all of a sudden, are starting to be in good enough position that they can start jockeying for seeding to try and get as favorable a path as possible once the postseason begins. But JJ Redick is not quite ready to think about that so long as the Play-In Tournament remains a possibility.
Redick’s main goal is to clinch the playoffs — not the Play-In Tournament — as soon as physically possible. At that time, he’ll take a closer look at seeding and matchups.
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