Ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers facing the New York Knicks on Monday, the team held a pregame ceremony and unveiled a banner to celebrate winning the NBA In-Season Tournament.
While it was a fun ceremony, the Lakers have struggled since being crowned In-Season Tournament champions and clearly seem affected by the heavy travel schedule in December. L.A. lost to the Knicks, 114-109, and now are back on the road after one home game.
Austin Reaves enjoyed being part of Monday’s banner-raising ceremony, but admits he is ready to hang the 18th championship banner in the rafters.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s the first one, and it was cool,” Reaves said of the banner. “It was cool to be a part of winning that and that whole deal. But now that’s over, and we got to focus on the season and try to hang another one up at the end of the year.”
After losing to the rebuilding San Antonio Spurs last Friday, the game against the Knicks felt like a must-win as the Lakers faced the prospect of another road trip in which they are facing challenging opponents. Despite the tough stretch, Reaves is keeping a professional mindset as it is up to him and the team to produce.
“At the end of the day, you got to be a professional. This is our job, show up and produce. Regardless of scheduling,” Reaves said. “How much we’ve been on the road, or will be, we’ll be at home a lot next month. So that’ll be nice. But like I said, you just got to be professional and show up and provide.”
When things aren’t going a team’s way, this is truly where players can see what they’re made of from a chemistry standpoint. It plays an integral part of being a championship contender and Reaves thinks the genuine nature of the team is keeping them connected.
“I think it’s just the genuineness of caring for one another, enjoying being around one another. And that’s really it,” he said. “Anytime you, regardless of what you do in life, like the people that you’re going to work with, you’re going to enjoy it, so that it really starts there. And then that trickles onto the court, caring about one another you want to, compete and give it everything you’ve got every possession for the guys you’re playing with.”
Reaves certainly does not seem phased by the ways things are going right now, but if the Lakers want to be a championship team, producing in this upcoming three-game road trip is key.
First up is a trip to Chicago on Wednesday to take on the Bulls to start a back-to-back with them playing the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, To close things out, the Lakers will take on a tough Oklahoma City Thunder team on Saturday before returning home and hosting the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day.
LeBron James believes road trips are affecting Lakers’ energy
With only two remaining home games left in the month of December, the Lakers are closing 2023 out away from Crypto.com Arena. Yet more challenges on the road await and LeBron James believes these trips are affecting the team’s overall energy, which has led to the recent struggles.
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