The Los Angeles Lakers picked up their fifth consecutive win on Wednesday night as they survived a huge second half run to ultimately walk away with a 12-point win over the Memphis Grizzlies. A big reason for the victory was the play of the Lakers’ bench, particularly veteran wing Taurean Prince.
Prince knocked down 3-of-4 from 3-point range to finish with 15 points on the night. But more important than any individual performance was the Lakers picking up another win and continuing to look like a potentially dangerous team should they qualify for the playoffs.
The Lakers look better now than they have all season and when asked what is the cause for the team’s recent stretch, Prince feels the team is simply being more aggressive and decisive in everything they do, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“I just think we’re all being aggressive. Being decisive in our decision making and what we want to do offensively, and then obviously staying locked in defensively knowing what we want to give up and not give up.”
That mindset and aggression is always needed for the Lakers, but especially so if the team is missing one of its superstars in LeBron James or Anthony Davis. The Lakers were able to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks without LeBron while Davis sat out the contest against the Grizzlies.
In the eyes of Prince, these games only help the Lakers role players in the long run:
“We know what they can bring to the table, it’s just about doing what we can to get the win no matter who is playing. We believe we can do it without both of them, I think we have a lot of talent, enough to get wins. And then with them, it’s just that much more star power to the roster. We know we can be dangerous. And having them not play, it gives guys a chance to build confidence and find their rhythm. And it only helps us when all those guys are on the floor.”
The key now for the Lakers is to maintain that aggression when they’re fully healthy. Players often stand around and just watch LeBron and Davis do their thing, but that won’t cut it if the Lakers want to make a postseason run.
As Prince noted, this team still has a lot of talent and that has been regularly on display whenever LeBron or Davis sits down. Hopefully this is exactly what they need in order to continue delivering like this through the rest of the year.
LeBron James happy with Lakers finding energy in win over Grizzlies
After an exhausting double overtime win over the Bucks Tuesday, the Lakers’ contest Wednesday in Memphis could have been a bit of a trap game and let down. But the Lakers were able to overcome any fatigue and LeBron James was very happy with what he saw.
LeBron praised his teammates, noting that the Lakers needed every bit of energy the players could muster up while thanking the likes of Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura who all played huge minutes in Milwaukee, but were still able to come out and deliver.
More must-reads: