The short-staffed Los Angeles Lakers stunned the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, chalking up a convincing 126-101 victory.
L.A. limited the turnovers that clipped the team’s wings in the previous clash, the 110-104 loss to the Miami Heat, and suffocated Brooklyn with their incessant defense. The reigning NBA champions also unleashed their offensive potential and drained 19 3-pointers on a 55.9% efficiency.
The victory seemed even more impressive considering Wesley Matthews had joined Marc Gasol, Kyle Kuzma, LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the injury list ahead of the clash. In the light of the circumstances, Dennis Schroder thought the Lakers notched their best win of the season on Saturday. “We beat ourselves in Miami and we still had a chance, even with me shooting terrible from the field and having a lot of turnovers,” he said.
“Today, we were out here competing, making shots and yeah, that’s the best win of the year I would say.”
However, Schroder pointed out the Lakers have to make sure the quality of play will carry over to future games. “I think we just got to keep building from this, how we played tonight, and just try to get better each day like I always say.”
Head coach Frank Vogel agreed with Schroder’s view on the victory, adding the team’s situation going into the game could have easily overwhelmed his players. “We’ve had some good wins, but this is what I wanted our guys reaching for in tonight’s game,” he said.
“When you see guys out and you see a great opponent like the [Brooklyn] Nets, you can be a little overwhelmed. Not sure if you are going to have a chance to win it, but you want to have a go-after-these-guys mindset. We knew coming in that if we’re able to prevail shorthanded against this opponent, that it would feel good (laughs).
“It would be one of the best wins of the year, so we’re happy about that.”
Schroder didn’t know the reason behind his ejection in Nets victory
The Saturday showdown turned sour for Schroder when he and Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving got ejected after a heated argument in the third quarter. The Nets guard had to leave the floor first after initiating the exchange. But the official tossed Schroder out a moment later after he waved goodbye to Irving heading to the locker room.
However, the Lakers guard said his ejection and the whole incident baffled him at first. “We’re competing out there, just trying to get the W,” Schroder said.
“I think it was unnecessary, just unfortunate that I left my team out there by themselves. I don’t even know what I did, but I got kicked out and I apologized for that to my teammates.”
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