It would have been very easy for the Los Angeles Lakers to throw in the towel on Friday night against the L.A. Clippers. They were coming off the second night of a back-to-back, Rui Hachimura was ruled out with patella tendinopathy and Austin Reaves played only nine minutes before being removed himself. Luka Doncic and LeBron James both playing at all was a surprise in itself.
But the Lakers didn’t throw in the towel at all. They played a hard-fought, wire-to-wire game against one of the top six teams in the Western Conference, and walked away with a 106-102 victory. It was the fifth win in a row for the Lakers, who now get a day off before a rematch against the Clippers on Sunday evening.
Doncic and LeBron James led the way in the box score. But the Lakers would not have been able to win without the contributions of players like Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jordan Goodwin and Trey Jemison III. That four-man bench unit were all a plus-11 or better for the night, bringing an undeniable energy and physicality to a game that the Lakers desperately needed it.
Doncic gave all the credit to James’ work with that four-man unit for helping the Lakers scrape together a victory on Friday.
“Yeah, I think it shows, especially today, coming into the back-to-back without two of the starters. It’s a tough game to play and to win, and I think we showed our character today,” Doncic said. “I would just say that second group with Bron (LeBron James), they gave us life. He inspired us to play faster, to play harder, so thanks to them we won the game.”
He went even further as to say that the Lakers may not have been able to keep their win streak alive if not for the contributions of the four-man bench unit.
“Yeah, like I said before, they gave us life to this game,” he added. “They pushed it to be better, and when the second group with Bron (LeBron James) came out, they pushed the ball, they defended. They showed us how we need to play. Without them, we don’t win this game tonight.”
The Lakers are obviously going to go as Luka and LeBron go over the remainder of the season. But to have such an energetic and physical bench unit that can completely change the makeup of games like this shows that the Lakers — for the first time in a long time — have real depth.
In having real depth, the Lakers finally have some margin for error that allows them to win games without playing their best basketball.
Luka Doncic discusses working through shooting slump
In his first six games with the Lakers, Luka Doncic shot just 37% from the field and 22% from 3-point range. He was only 9-for-22 against the Clippers. When speaking to the media after the Minnesota Timberwolves game, Doncic called this slump a challenge that he will need to overcome.
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