Against the Thunder on Monday, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham turned back to the starting lineup that he used to open the season: LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, and Taurean Prince.
That was the Lakers’ starting group for five of the first seven games of the season, including the first four. However, those players hadn’t started together since November 6, as Ham first moved Reaves to the bench and later did the same with Russell. After Los Angeles came away with a 112-105 victory over Oklahoma City, Ham indicated he plans to stick with his original starting five going forward, writes ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“Just wanted to put as much skill and shot-making on the floor around our two captains,” Ham said, referring to James and Davis. “And those five, they’ve been pretty much our most consistent guys throughout the season thus far. So just put them together. For the foreseeable future, that’s going to be our lineup, barring any type of injury.”
The Lakers have used 11 different starting lineups so far this season, leaning most frequently on a group consisting of James, Davis, Russell, Prince, and Cam Reddish. Reddish is a stronger defender than Reaves, but didn’t provide as much on the offensive end of the court. He’s currently unavailable due to a knee issue.
Los Angeles also experimented with a starting five that featured Reaves in Russell’s place alongside the two star forwards, Prince, and Reddish, but that group has posted a -13.2 net rating in 99 minutes of action. The opening night lineup, which Ham turned back to on Monday, has a +1.3 rating in 150 total minutes.
In spite of Monday’s impressive victory, the Lakers remain below .500 (20-21) at the season’s midpoint and are feeling a sense of urgency to pick up some more wins during their current stretch of games in L.A., writes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. That stretch of games, which includes four more home games and a “road” contest vs. the Clippers, runs through next Thursday.
Last season, a series of moves at the trade deadline helped kick-start the Lakers to a second-half surge and two playoff series wins, but Ham doesn’t necessarily think the team needs to seek out similar moves this winter.
“People talk about trades and this and that. No one’s sugarcoating anything. You have an opportunity to get better, you’re going take advantage of it,” Ham said, per McMenamin. “But that said, what we have in that locker room, we just need to buckle down, focus, take care of the details. We have more than enough in that locker room to make some things happen.”
In season tourney champs!
I laugh every time I see that comment from someone.
Pick a lineup already
Where have all the Laker fans gone ????
Bugs ….. key the music ….
link to m.facebook.com
BANDWAGON
With the Lakers and Warriors struggling, the bandwagon fans don’t know what to do!
Its hilarious how some of think “bandwagon fans” is supposed to be offensive.
No team is going to be a contender every year. Warriors won 4 titles in 10 years. Seems good to me.
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Ham has tried pretty much everything. This probably makes sense, at least until the lakers make yet another trade.
They went on that slump right after the IST because they were partying all day and night with those 500 mil.
Now they seem to have returned to planet Earth and look better again.
I guess this team thinks the regular season is boring. They just think they can barely get in the playoffs (play-in tournament even) and take things from there.
Last year they almost got away with it. Made the WCF. But I hope this year they remember they were gassed out in the Denver series and got whipped by a younger team, that had more rest going into the playoffs.
Grasping straws