The Los Angeles Lakers have had a tough past week, losing on a buzzer-beater to the Orlando Magic and then following it up with back-to-back blowout losses to the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns.
On the second night of a back to back, though, the Lakers managed to get back in the win column after beating the San Antonio Spurs.
Los Angeles earned a 119-101 victory over San Antonio and it was a total group effort as everyone who played made some sort of impact in their minutes.
Speaking after the win, head coach JJ Redick expressed how proud he was of his team for responding after three consecutive losses via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I’m very proud of our group,” Redick said. “The response was great and it’s funny because it’s literally what I talked with them about before the game, just that you got to let go of the past, you got to let go of the recent past and you got to get on to the next thing. And like they’ve done already on several occasions, they responded.”
Redick also was pleased with the defense overall and specifically against Victor Wembanyama:
“Outside of one possession that we played zone coming out of a timeout when they put their bench in at the end of the game, we were in 1-5 red the whole game. So that was gonna require a lot of physicality and a lot of communication and I thought our guys executed that to a great level.
“Beyond that, sometimes when you can get a little spread out and they start ghosting screens, you can get broken down off the dribble. It certainly happened a few times, certainly we messed up a couple ghost screens and the roller got behind or the slip got behind. But overall I thought we did a really good job of just containing the basketball and not getting spread out.”
Defense has been the Lakers’ problem as of late as they simply can’t get stops, but as Redick pointed out they did a better job of executing the game plan. It’s just one win, but Los Angeles at least has something to hang their hats on ahead of an important matchup on Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
LeBron James says Lakers need to stay process-oriented through ups and downs
When a team loses, it’s easy to begin wondering what else one can do but LeBron James emphasized the need for the Lakers to stay process-oriented no matter how things are going.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!