The Los Angeles Lakers were shorthanded against the L.A. Clippers on Saturday night as Deandre Ayton, Austin Reaves, Gabe Vincent and Rui Hachimura all did not suit up. Luka Doncic also left the game early due to injury, leaving Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart as two key players needing to step up.
The purple and gold struggled offensively from the jump with a disappointing 15-point first quarter setting the tone for the night. In totality, the Lakers shot 39% from the field and 16% from 3-point range.
There are nights when teams simply do not make shots, yet this felt like an extreme case. LaRavia believes the Lakers played hard, but they did not make enough shots to put themselves in a position to get a win, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yes and no. I feel like everyone knows what’s expected of them when they go out and step on the court, regardless of being down bodies or whatever situation goes out on the court. We’re all NBA players, so we know what’s asked of us when we go out there on the court. We just didn’t hit shots tonight, that’s just what it was. We were 6-for-38 from 3, we missed seven free throws. Tough to win basketball games like that. I thought we played really, really hard. But shots just were not falling.”
In terms of the amount of injuries impacting the Lakers, the former Wake Forest product thinks he can adapt to any situation and he wants to play the same way regardless of his role:
“I really don’t care. I think I’m a very adaptable player. I think we do have a lot of lineups that succeed, like a lot of variation of lineups that play well together. So when nights like this happen, for me, I just feel like I’m going out there trying to get the same thing every time I’m out there. Be more aggressive, especially in a game like this where Luka went out. But for the most part, it stays the same.”
Losing four starters is obviously a tall task to overcome, but LaRavia believes there is enough talent to win regardless of the circumstances:
“It just becomes an effort offense, effort defense game. Losing Luka, who obviously is averaging a lot of points, Austin, averaging a lot of points, Rui is out, averaging a good amount of points, Gabe, obviously we’re down bodies, Deandre. So just that next man up mentality, like I said. It’s just expected of the rest of the guys. And I think we have that group. Again, we played really hard tonight. And I think we would’ve won had we made just a couple shots. It just didn’t happen tonight.”
Head coach JJ Redick hinted at near returns for Reaves, Ayton and Hachimura, but now Doncic may miss time after suffering a leg contusion. It feels like a revolving door of injuries, but it is up to the Lakers to figure out how to win regardless of the scenario they are in.
Jake LaRavia got root canal to fix front teeth
To demonstrate how much of a competitor LaRavia is, he took a shot to the face when the Lakers played in Philadelphia against the 76ers, which knocked a tooth loose. He had to unfortunately get a root canal, although he did not miss any time despite his dental work.
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