The bench production for the Los Angeles Lakers certainly has been lacking in the postseason, and that goes back to the end of the regular season. But through the first two games of the Lakers’ first-round matchup with the Denver Nuggets, they have only gotten 17 bench points with all of them coming from Taurean Prince.
If the purple and gold want any chance to make this a series, they need more bench scoring to complement the starters. Spencer Dinwiddie and Gabe Vincent need to be more aggressively looking for their shot and not force the issue that could negatively impact the game.
As Game 3 looms, perhaps being back at Crypto.com Arena will help the bench as the notion is role players play better at home. However, Prince believes that the other bench players must let the game flow and be aggressive when the opportunity presents itself.
“I think that just comes with having flow,” Prince said. “I think that’s just how the game goes sometimes and we understand that. I think it’s been the same thing throughout the whole season, we kind of just pick and choose our battles and when to attack and when to be aggressive in that area.”
Unfortunately, during Game 2, Prince and Dinwiddie forced the issue during the fourth quarter and took ill-advised shots that Denver capitalized on. Flow is a big piece to finding a rhythm as forcing the issue can provide even more trouble for the Lakers due to pressure that the Nuggets put on their opponents.
Depth is something that L.A. prided itself on coming into this season and there is no better time to showcase that then in a do-or-die situation with Game 3. Every player is going to need to show up and the bench needs to do their job by outscoring a weak Denver bench that does not have many scoring threats.
Taurean Prince: Lakers know they can be dangerous regardless of who’s in lineup
Two key pieces that the team is missing right are Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood, who both can provide the skillsets that the Lakers need in this series. Vanderbilt with his perimeter defense and Wood with his ability to rebound and score a couple of points.
But L.A. needs to continue on without those two at least until potentially Game 4. As all eyes shift to Game 3 and perhaps extending the series a little bit longer, Prince knows that the team can be dangerous regardless of who’s in or out of the lineup.
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