Even though the Los Angeles Lakers dropped their fifth straight preseason game on Tuesday night, the team and its fans got their first look at the new ‘Big 3′ on the floor.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook officially played together for the first time and certainly showed flashes of how things can look when all three are in the game. The pace of the game certainly was the fastest for the Lakers all preseason, with James and Westbrook pushing the ball every time down the floor.
Of course, there were expected miscues throughout the night and head coach Frank Vogel offered his initial assessment of his stars’ play.
“The first half was a lot better than the second half but overall a good first outing for those guys,” Vogel said. “We’re just collecting sample sizes of possessions to analyze in film and get these guys on the same page and another positive night.”
While Vogel seemed happy with how the Big 3 looked, he was not too pleased with the defense but seemed optimistic they can improve in that area.
“We’re just losing too many guys,” explained Vogel. “This is a great cutting team, even with those guys (Stephen Curry and Draymond Green) out, they play with a lot of back cuts and our scheme is rock solid in terms of not giving that up. But it’s against a lot of players’ instincts so guys coming in new, it takes a little while for those guys to get used to it and I think we got beat entirely too much on back cuts tonight. But something we can clean up.”
It was no secret that the Lakers were going to take a step back defensively after losing so many quality pieces in the offseason, but playing a team like the Golden State Warriors only exacerbates the issues. Davis himself had an excellent defensive performance, but even he can not clean up every mistake that is made and it will be something to monitor throughout the season.
While it is unfortunate that the Lakers have not won in the preseason, the important thing to remember is that they are growing together as a team and it will take time for them to truly hit their stride.
Davis says Lakers can not rush process
As a team of veterans, the Lakers understand that things on the floor will take time and Davis recently emphasized that the group can not rush the process toward being a championship team.
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