The Lakers got here away with their fifth straight win in opposition to the Pelicans on Saturday, however issues appeared a bit shaky within the first half.
It ought to have been a straightforward get, given how decimated with harm 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 mentioned. “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 mentioned, they have been making some photographs early on. We had some beauty early on and simply missed them. AR shot one off the facet of the backboard extensive open, like that by no means occurs. So we had nice seems, missed some bunnies across the rim.
“We weren’t too discouraged. We truly had some fairly good defensive quarters, and we did in the end maintain them to 99 factors, so our defensive ranking I’m fairly positive was good this sport. It was offensively the place we have been struggling, we knew that staff was gonna play exhausting they usually 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 in the end executed down the stretch.”
The Lakers finally restricted the Pels shot choice within the second stanza, and Lakers coach JJ Redick defined his mindset and what he mentioned to his troops on the break.
“Truthfully, our protection was good, at the very least our first shot protection within the first half,” Redick mentioned. “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 very excessive fee. And the sport was going to come back down as to if or not they might get extra possessions than us. Our guys, I believed within the third quarter, defensively had a very 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 understand? That was all it was.”
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