The Lakers got here away with their fifth straight win towards the Pelicans on Saturday, however issues appeared a little bit shaky within the first half.
It ought to have been a straightforward get, given how decimated with damage NOLA was, however the Lakers trailed by ten on the half as a consequence of their lack of hustle in protection.
However Anthony Davis, who ended the evening with 31 factors, 14 rebounds, two steals and a block, wasn’t perturbed.
“I wouldn’t say it’s irritating,” Davis stated. “Simply because we perceive the place we’re, I imply that is the second evening of a back-to-back. Everyone goes by it. And like I stated, they have been making some pictures early on. We had some attractiveness early on and simply missed them. AR shot one off the facet of the backboard broad open, like that by no means occurs. So we had nice seems to be, missed some bunnies across the rim.
“We weren’t too discouraged. We truly had some fairly good defensive quarters, and we did finally maintain them to 99 factors, so our defensive score I’m fairly positive was good this recreation. It was offensively the place we have been struggling, we knew that group was gonna play laborious and so they weren’t going to surrender irrespective of who they have been enjoying. And who was enjoying for them. So we simply had to stick with it, keep linked, keep collectively and finally executed down the stretch.”
The Lakers ultimately restricted the Pels shot choice within the second stanza, and Lakers coach JJ Redick defined his mindset and what he stated to his troops on the break.
“Truthfully, our protection was good, not less than our first shot protection within the first half,” Redick stated. “I feel they shot 36% on their first shot, it was the 12 offensive rebounds that killed us. Made it very clear they have been going to crash at a extremely excessive fee. And the sport was going to return down as to if or not they may get extra possessions than us. Our guys, I assumed within the third quarter, defensively had a extremely good mindset. We have been in a position to acquire some offensive rebounds, they ended with six, I feel within the second half. However, there wasn’t actually an adjustment defensively. It was simply get the f—ing ball, you already know? That was all it was.”
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