The Los Angeles Lakers chalked up a gritty, overtime 127-115 win over the Utah Jazz in big part thanks to the team’s floor general, Dennis Schroder.
The point guard did it all on Saturday, ending the game with 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds in 39 minutes — while playing through injuries. Schroder grappled with a foot infection and a couple of other issues in recent days. But thanks to physical care and mental support from his wife, he stayed fit enough to feature for the Lakers.
“Yeah, it’s in between my toes,” Schroder said. “The last three days have been pretty bad. My wife took care of me. I don’t know what it was, but she took care of me. She said, ‘you need to play.’ I don’t like to miss games, so fought through it, tried to get out there with my guys. But yeah, it’s a cut inside the toe that got infected.”
Schroder, who will enter free agency in the summer, laughed when asked whether he decided to play to show off his toughness. The 27-year-old said he just doesn’t like missing games. “I’ve been playing that my whole career,” he said. “I’m like that. I’m built like that. It don’t matter what situation I’m in.
“I’m going to do the same thing. It’s not because I changed organizations. I think the people know what I’m about, and that’s just trying to win games, trying to be out there and trying to help my teammates.”
Schroder’s actions vouched for his toughness on Saturday nevertheless. The German forced overtime with just seconds left on the clock and then stayed in charge of events on the floor, dishing off passes to his teammates and helping L.A. get away with the overtime win.
Drummond gaining chemistry with Schroder
Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope joined Schroder also chipped in at least 25 points for the Lakers against the Jazz. The former capitalized on the chemistry with the German playmaker, which the center said has started to develop and could become another Lakers weapon during the key parts of the season.
“[W]e’ve found something that has really worked for us down the stretch and we kept going to it and they didn’t stop it,” Drummond said. “Now we know that’s something we can use down the stretch of games and throughout the game.”
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