The Los Angeles Lakers lost their fourth consecutive game on Friday night and once again, the story was about the bench outplaying the starters and finishing the game.
The Lakers starters totaled only 31 points with the trio of Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, and Julius Randle combining to make only five of 32 shots. Meanwhile, Lou Williams nearly outscored the entire starting unit by himself with 30 points off the bench.
After the game, head coach Byron Scott pointed to a lack of trust as to being a main reason why the starters are struggling according to Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Byron Scott: “Our first unit is just not playing well, period. Lack of trust with each other is, to me, evident."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) March 19, 2016
Second-year forward Julius Randle agreed with Scott’s assessment about the lack of trust as well according to Winters:
Julius Randle also mentioned the bit about not trusting each other: "We just faced a little adversity & we kind of go our separate ways"
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) March 19, 2016
Clearly the Lakers starters are still figuring out how to play with one another and it has shown the last couple of games. The bench unit led by Marcelo Huertas, Lou Williams, and Brandon Bass has not only finished games recently, but have dug the team out of holes caused by the starters’ poor play.
A lack of trust among teammates will completely ruin the team on both ends of the floor. The young Lakers clearly have talent, but if they are unable to get over this hump and begin trusting each other, this team will remain in the spot it is in now.