Wednesday night saw the Los Angeles Lakers return to the win column after three consecutive losses in a balanced effort against the San Antonio Spurs. The leading scorer — Dalton Knecht — had 20 points, while the Lakers had seven players in double figures. One of those players was Max Christie, who finished with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting in 22 minutes.
It has been an uneven season thus far for Christie, who was supposed to take the next step with a head coach at the helm. However, he has crossed double figures just three times, two of them in the Lakers’ two wins over the Spurs.
The Lakers guard spoke about his success against the Spurs this season, saying that it’s less about the opponent and more about doing what is asked of him, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Honestly, I’m just playing. I don’t think I’m really coming into the game thinking that I’m gonna play well against the Spurs or not. I’m kind of just playing my game, I’m playing hard on both ends and I was pretty aggressive tonight offensively, especially to start in the second half. So that felt really good. I think I kind of helped our team push that lead a little bit and we got a good win.”
One thing that Christie was particularly happy about for the Lakers was that they were able to win the third quarter. That had become a point of emphasis after two brutal outings from halftime in losses to the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns.
Christie revealed that third-quarter struggles were a topic of discussion for L.A. at halftime:
“I think honestly, as a team we acknowledged it at halftime. We said hey, we got to come out and really make them call the first timeout in the third quarter. So we came out with a lot of force, came out with intensity. I don’t think we really slacked so I thought we did a really good job. I think when we do that as a team, we’re really hard to beat. We built a really good lead in the first half and then kind of stood on that in the second half and grew the lead even too. So it was really good.”
If the Lakers can figure out the root of their struggles to begin second halves, it could be a huge turning point in their season. And if Christie can find what makes him so successful against the Spurs and replicate it elsewhere, that should be another reason to bet on L.A. moving forward.
JJ Redick proud of Lakers for responding
The Lakers had a tough past week, losing on a buzzer-beater to the Orlando Magic and then following it up with back-to-back blowout losses to the Nuggets and Suns.
On the second night of a back to back, though, Los Angeles earned a 119-101 victory over San Antonio and it was a total group effort as everyone who played made some sort of impact in their minutes.
Speaking after the win, head coach JJ Redick expressed how proud he was of his team for responding after three consecutive losses.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
