Things have certainly been trending upward for the Los Angeles Lakers in the last few games. They have won four of their last five, including Monday night against the Chicago Bulls behind a masterful performance from Luka Doncic.
Doncic had 46 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists in the win. And while L.A. has had winning stretches before, the whole vibe around the team feels different.
Included in the five-game stretch have been two comfortable wins — the Bulls and Toronto Raptors — and two gritty wins that included comeback efforts, with the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. Those types of wins were virtually nonexistent at the start of the season, as L.A. either won close games that were tight throughout, or they were blown out.
Luka spoke about what has changed for the Lakers to lead to this stretch, and he focused on everyone’s singular mentality and the positivity in the locker room, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“I think just playing together. Everybody is just staying together, we talked about a lot of things, how we want to approach the game better. That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re staying together, I think everybody is having fun out there.”
While the Lakers never looked like a team that didn’t like one another, there have certainly been stretches where the team looked defeated and deflated. It was part of why they were never able to get any comeback wins and why blowout losses were a common occurrence in the first half of the season.
If that is starting to turn around, though, it creates opportunity for the Lakers to stack up more and more wins, putting themselves in the best possible position come playoff time. They have a great test on Wednesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, as well.
JJ Redick emphasizes need to allow Luka Doncic’s creativity
Doncic is one of the best players in the NBA today and already one of the all-time great offensive engines in league history. He is able to score, pass and manipulate the defense seemingly at will, and arguably his only flaw on the offensive end is that he takes some risks that lead to turnovers.
However, head coach JJ Redick, now that he’s seen it up close for a while, believe that is a necessary part of his game. Allowing him to do his creative stuff unlocks all the things he does best on the offensive side of the ball.
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