Lakers ride new starting lineup to big win over Thunder, but that doesn’t mean the change should stick

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Darvin Ham tried to resist changing his starting lineup throughout the recent four-game losing streak the Los Angeles Lakers endured. “You can’t just keep, on a whim, changing,” Ham said after Wednesday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. “That’s a big deal when you change your starting lineup at this level.” But after Thursday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Ham relented. Change was necessary. He just didn’t take it in the direction most fans expected.

Would he sub Austin Reaves in for the struggling D’Angelo Russell? Perhaps he’d bring back the starting lineup that took the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals a year ago, the one that featured both Reaves and Russell alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Jarred Vanderbilt, who recently returned after a lengthy absence. In the end, neither Russell nor Reaves, both of whom opened the season as starters, were part of the new lineup. Vanderbilt, a non-shooter, joined James, Davis, Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish in the new-look starting five on Saturday. 

The on-court results were slightly more positive than negative in the first go-round. In around nine minutes of play, that lineup outscored Oklahoma City by one point. The Lakers, who have fallen behind in first quarters all season, held their own early on. Ultimately, the Lakers managed to win the game, 129-120, and the principal figures were largely upbeat. Ham praised the group’s “size and physicality” as a means of enabling switch-ability on defense. Russell, who came off of the bench for the first time in the regular season since the 2020-21 campaign, acted comfortable with his new role. “The result was a win,” Russell said. “To me, that’s all that matters.”

But in the grand scheme of things, the lineup’s flaws could prove problematic for a coach who has openly expressed reluctance to make further changes. The obvious weakness is spacing. James operated as the lineup’s point guard, and the Lakers leaned on the James-Davis pick-and-roll more than ever. In itself, that isn’t a problem. That was the offensive formula when the…

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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-ride-new-starting-lineup-to-big-win-over-thunder-but-that-doesnt-mean-the-change-should-stick/

Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2023-12-24 05:58:39

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