The Los Angeles Lakers struggled after winning the NBA In-Season Tournament as they went into Saturday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder losers of four straight and five of six.
Given the landscape of the Western Conference, the Lakers couldn’t afford a losing streak much longer than that if they want to stay in the playoff race.
Knowing that, Lakers star big man Anthony Davis declared Saturday’s game in Oklahoma City to be a must-win for L.A.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham followed suit, making a starting lineup change to bench the struggling D’Angelo Russell in favor of Jarred Vanderbilt.
Davis’ comments and Ham’s lineup change worked as the Lakers played one of their best games of the season to beat the Thunder on the road. After the game, Russell gave praise to Davis for his leadership and helping the Lakers earn a much-needed win, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“It’s huge from one of our leaders to be vocal like that and as a group, we followed and had his back to get the win. LeBron comes out and performs the way he performs, it’s huge. Huge for our group. Something we can build on, for sure.”
Davis backed up his words with 26 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, one steals and two blocks while shooting 11-of-21 from the field on the night.
LeBron James also certainly did his part by pouring in a season-high 40 points on 13-of-20 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks.
Coupling this with the In-Season Tournament victory, the Lakers have shown that they can play their best basketball when the pressure is on. They will need to play this way more consistently in order to keep pace in the West though, which has been a challenge so far.
D’Angelo Russell not concerned about move to bench
To his credit, Russell also played a solid game for the Lakers against the Thunder despite his move to the bench. In 17 minutes, Russell had 15 points and three assists on 5-of-9 shooting.
While going from a regular starter throughout his career to now coming off the bench cannot be easy for someone like Russell, he showed maturity by stating that he’s not concerned about it because the Lakers came out on top with a win.
Hopefully he is able to maintain that attitude moving forward and the Lakers continue to pick up wins as a result.
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