It’s about time, LA! The Los Angeles Lakers have finally won their first game of the season as they avenged their earlier loss last week to the Denver Nuggets and won 121-110.
Man, I’m sure a lot of Lakers fans breathed a huge sigh of relief when the final buzzer sounded, and LA sealed their first win of the season. Not only were the Lakers the last team in the NBA to be winless (they sat at 0-5 coming into the night), but they also were the worst shooting team by a mile.
The Lakers were shooting anywhere from 18%-31% from the 3-point line and averaging 41.7% from the field in games against the Warriors, the Nuggets, the Clippers, the Timberwolves, and the Trail Blazers.
Now, of course, the Golden State Warriors, the Denver Nuggets, and the Minesota Timberwolves are good teams and would probably be able to beat the Lakers even when LA was at its strongest, but losing to the Clippers and the Trail Blazers too?
The Trail Blazers have a decent roster, but they shouldn’t be able to contend with players like Anthony Daivs, Russell Westbrook, and LeBron James for a full 48 minutes. Meanwhile, the Clippers have players that can compete with the Lakers (ie: Kawhii Leonard, Paul George), but their players are never healthy. You’d honestly be more likely to see Leonard and George sitting in the stands playing in, as the great Charles Barkley once said, “Street Clothes” than on an NBA court in a Clipper uniform.
And yet, the Lakers lost to that team. It was honestly looking like the Lakers were on the verge of imploding if they didn’t pick up a win soon, so it was good that they finally were able to against the Nuggets.
Finally, all three of the Lakers “Big 3” stepped up and contributed offensively as LBJ, AD, and Westbrook all finished the night with 15+ points and 6+ rebounds. Though, Russell Westbrook really impressed me the most out of the three last night, even though he finished with the least number of points.
Coming off the bench and leading the 2nd unit, Westbrook was a monster on the court again as he dominated the second teamers of the Nuggets, finishing the night with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists.
This new role HC Darvin Ham has given Westbrook may be the most ingenious thing a Lakers HC has done in the last two years as he’s not only giving Westbrook a chance to shine and regain his confidence against players inferior to him, but he is also spreading out the Lakers attack onto two units as Westbrook still finished the night with 32 minutes.
Though, another huge improvement from previous games was that the Lakers finally took their shots. Led by Russell Westbrook (surprisingly), Austin Reaves, and Lonnie Walker IV (who’s really impressing me), the Lakers finished the night with 13/30 (43.3%) from the 3-point line and 46/96 (47.9%) field goals to actually outshoot the Denver Nuggets. You know, the team that is led by the reigning back-to-back MVP, Nikola Jovic!
Now, I’m not sure if the Lakers will be able to continue this improved field goal and 3-point shooting, but if they can, then this team may actually have a chance of making it into the playoffs. As for Westbrook, Darvin Ham needs to keep him coming on from the bench as he looked like the MVP Westbrook that averaged a Triple-double for an entire season. Hey, he nearly got a Triple-double tonight.
We’ll have to wait and see if the Lakers can keep this newfound confidence going against the New Orleans Pelicans this Wednesday.
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