Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura. Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

Rui Hachimura proves Lakers teammates wrong in breakout game

By Max Steele | Last updated 4/17/23

Rui Hachimura silenced the haters, and his teammates.

Coming off the bench, Hachimura dropped a team-high 29 points in the Lakers' 128-112 win over the Grizzlies in Game 1 of the first round. The power forward also posterized Defensive Player of the Year candidate Jaren Jackson Jr., disproving his alleged "weak dunk package."

RUI HACHIMURA DOWN THE LANE WITH AUTHORITY pic.twitter.com/QegaEJrsut
— ESPN (@espn) April 16, 2023

Days before the playoffs, Hachimura shared his dunking highlight reel with his teammates, but they were not impressed.

Hachimura showed a clip of him dunking on now-teammate Anthony Davis, but Davis refuted by calling it an offensive foul. Davis said Hachimura's dunks were "not elite" and "just regular."

"I always mess with Rui," Davis said, via ClutchPoints. "We gave him a hard time about it."

Hachimura told his teasing teammates to stay tuned.

"He said, 'Watch, I'm gonna dunk on someone this series,'" Davis recalled.

And that he did.

"I always mess with Rui. He has this clip saved on his phone of him dunking on me when he was in Washington, and he shows Austin all the time... He said, 'Watch, I'm gonna dunk on somebody this series.' And it happened in Game 1."

️ Anthony Davispic.twitter.com/3wPcJyUS7i
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 17, 2023

Hachimura said his teammates approved of the slam.

"They told me I got one," the smiling 25-year-old said postgame.

He continued to credit his teammates, saying they encouraged him to be more aggressive.

Lakers teammates told Rui Hachimura his dunk package was weak

He showed out tonight with 29 PTS in the Game 1 W.#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/u3Yp54UHTk
— NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2023

Hachimura and the seven-seed Lakers will look to steal Game 2 on Wednesday before heading back to Los Angeles.

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