Five takeaways from the Lakers’ 102-99 overtime win over the Washington Wizards
Since the start of his tenure, Lakers Coach Luke Walton has tried to foster one thing over everything else in his team: Trust.
Trust helps defense, it helps the pass-first mentality he wants from his offense and on some nights it can lead to wins.
It’s why the Lakers were so pleased this summer to see their young players bonding so quickly. Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma became fast friends. Brandon Ingram hit it off with them too, at Summer League. Larry Nance Jr. took Kuzma, Josh Hart and Thomas Bryant on a paintball excursion that included Ivica Zubac and now-former Laker David Nwaba just after the draft.
When you like your teammates you care enough about them to get upset when someone else comes at them. That’s what happened Wednesday night when the Lakers beat the Wizards in overtime, 102-99.
Whether or not you feel that Marcin Gortat’s tweet that said John Wall would “torture” Ball for 48 minutes was offensive, the Lakers clearly did. And Walton employed that feeling in motivating his players.
Here are five takeaways from Wednesday night’s game.
1. Ball did not have a good shooting night. He made only two of 11 shots and none of his five three-point attempts. He hasn’t shot well so far this season. But there are two positives involved with that. First, despite his shooting struggles, Ball has never lacked confidence. Walton told a story in his postgame press conference. He told the team, “‘Let’s move the ball, attack the paint, if it’s open take [the three] in rhythm and shoot it. That being said we’re going to start overtime and Lonzo you’re going to take this three and knock it down.’” Ball liked hearing that. “He didn’t make it, but he walked back to me he said, ‘Coach I’m going to make the next one.’ And he missed the next one too. But his confidence was there. From a rookie you love to see that.”
2. The second positive to take from Ball’s poor shooting percentage is that it isn’t affecting the other parts of his game. He loves rebounding and had a big one late in Wednesday’s game. He still finds his teammates on outlet passes and little dump-offs under the basket. His game and his engagement in the game aren’t dependent on his shooting well. Ball was asked if his shooting affects the other parts of his game. “No,” he said. “I mean, it’d be a lot easier to win if I made some shots, but I’m gonna rebound. I’m gonna try to defend every time I can and I’m gonna find the open man.”
3. Julius Randle had a really nice night in some really important minutes for the Lakers. In overtime he scored the final points of the game and had two blocked shots, an assist and two defensive rebounds. Randle didn’t start, but on this team closing out a game is a privilege that comes with earning the coaching staff’s trust.
4. For a few minutes last night, my game story was going to be about Brandon Ingram taking over in the moments that mattered. Ingram had 11 points in the fourth quarter and tipped in his own miss to send the game to overtime. Walton thinks that had something to do with Ingram getting into a dust-up with Washington’s Kelly Oubre. That kind of thing seems to rile up Ingram, Walton said, and it caused him to take what Walton thought was a mediocre game and elevate it to a very strong game.
5. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope showed his value. He hit a three-pointer to bring the Lakers within two with 3:51 left in the fourth quarter that preceded a game-tying shot by Ingram. The Lakers trailed by two with less than a minute to go in overtime when Caldwell-Pope knocked down another three-pointer with an assist from Ball. He made three of eight three-pointers and five of 13 shots for 14 points, but some came at the biggest moments.
Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli
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