Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers easily defeated the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. They won 131-99 across the board to end the season 4-0 in the Western Conference Group A of the tournament.
With the game decided early, LeBron James and Anthony Davis were able to rest for an entire fourth quarter while the Lakers clinched a spot in the quarterfinals, which they will host at home.
This also allowed the Lakers to maintain their sixth victory in seven games. Of those six wins, three were by double digits and two were by more than 25 points. In short, the Lakers appear to be figuring things out and are showing up to be the team they want to be when the season begins.
James talked about the Lakers’ position in the in-season tournament and what it means to play at home against an opponent that has yet to be determined.
“That’s it. Obviously we’re in the tournament, so it’s always great to get a win and have another home game in a different way. So it’s great that we can handle business that way.”
James took a broader look at six of the Lakers’ seven games, pointing to one area of focus for Los Angeles that he believes they have successfully addressed.
“We want to reassure guys, obviously the first quarter to start the season hasn’t been great for us, so we want to make sure we take care of that. So we were much better in the first quarter, our defense Still playing at a high level and attacking really well.”
The Lakers star sounded nonchalant when discussing the idea of extending the offense after the fourth quarter break and talked about what it could mean for some young players.
“Listen, no matter how the game turns out. I’m ready to play whatever minutes I need to play. If there’s a game where I don’t have to play a long time, then I’m definitely going to play. It’s all good.
“I think it’s nice to see young guys be able to go out and close out games. I love that, being able to sit on the bench and watch Max Christie go out and play his way, AR play his way, C Wood on fourth down The quarter is getting into a rhythm, Rui continues to get better and better, and Jax. I just love seeing the young guys go out and perform at a high level, even if we get a huge lead. It’s definitely a benefit.”
Even though the Lakers have only played 15 games, something seems to be falling into place. James and Anthony Davis are playing at an elite level together, and the team’s young players are getting significant time to mesh as Los Angeles heads toward the playoffs.
The in-season tournament put some early pressure on the Lakers to win, and they responded strongly.
James wants to see Lakers fully healthy
James acknowledged that even with their recent success, the Lakers are still waiting to see what they will look like with Jared Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent back and the team fully healthy.
“We don’t know what we have right now. We’re not complete yet. We’re not complete yet, not once this season. So we don’t know exactly what we have, but no matter what uniform the players wear, they’re going to step up and they’re going to be there Execution of the game plan as best we could offensively and defensively, and we trusted everyone on the floor for close to 48 minutes.”
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