At this point in the season, every single game matters for the Los Angeles Lakers and one player who has turned into an X-factor is Rui Hachimura. The forward has had some excellent games for the team and will be extremely important for the Lakers as they take on the Golden State Warriors Saturday night.
The Lakers and Warriors are basically tied for the final two spots in the Play-In Tournament for the West and could wind up meeting once again in that matchup. As such, this one could wind up determining who gets homecourt in that game and the importance of this contest is not lost on Hachimura and the Lakers.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be a big game, it’s almost a playoff game,” Hachimura said after practice. “I think we’re preparing good, we had a great team meeting today, film session. We had a little movement stuff and went over the plays and stuff and we feel pretty good about tomorrow.”
The Lakers and Warriors have had some exciting matchups over the past couple of seasons and this one could be no different. These Warriors have some new wrinkles and lineup changes so Hachimura knows the Lakers must adjust in order to come out on top.
“They changed their lineup a little bit so we just got to adjust to that,” Hachimura added. “You know who’s gonna be the guys, Steph and Draymond, those are the two guys to watch so we just got to defend them well and get back in transition.
“They’re a good transition team. They’re a little different, trying to sprint out to the 3-point line so we just got to switch the mindset from how we’re used to. We’re used to getting back to play defense in the paint but we just got to be smart and try to get this win.”
Hachimura is enjoying his best stretch of the season, averaging 17.7 points on 58.4% shooting and 50% from 3-point range in his last six games. In the Lakers’ most recent game against the Sacramento Kings Hachimura finished with 20 points, but 17 came in the first half and he credited the Kings adjusting but knows he must be more aggressive.
“I mean, of course the team adjusts. At halftime, they of course talked about me like ‘they got to stop him.’ They adjusted the defense, of course,” Hachimura noted. “I was more wide open (in the first half) because they were more focused on AD and LeBron. Second half, it was hard for them to. But it’s a team. As a team, we just got to help each other.
“I think we’ve been doing a good job, offensively especially. So it is what it is. I shot one 3 or whatever in the second half, but my teammates were getting more shots. It’s a team sport, but I just got to be more aggressive. I got to be more in the actions and all that. I think I kind of stopped that in the second half.”
Whatever the Lakers must do to get a win over the Warriors and continue to try and climb those standings, and Hachimura will be a big piece to whatever happens.
Rui Hachimura believes Lakers lineup will come together
The Lakers are still missing a couple players, but the team as a whole has been coming together. Hachimura feels they will continue to do so, especially when Jarred Vanderbilt returns.
“Yeah, for sure. Vando is still out, but he’s gonna come back soon, hopefully, and our regular lineup that we had last year will come back at the right time. So we’re all excited, we’ve been watching a lot of film and we’ve been communicating well. So I think it’s gonna come together.”
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