Lakers using In-Season Tournament success to come together after rocky start
For weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers have openly expressed their desire to win the NBA ’s inaugural In-Season Tournament. On Tuesday evening, they got one step closer to achieving their goal.
The Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz 131-99 at Crypto.com Arena to clinch West Group A with a 4-0 record and advance to the tournament’s quarterfinals. Los Angeles improved to 9-6 overall this regular season and has won six of its past seven games.
“I thought it was incredible,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham told reporters afterward. “A great, great step in the right direction in us not only securing anything for the In-Season Tournament, but just us coming together and constantly trying to get better at being together and playing the right way.”
The win ensured the Lakers a top-two seed in the West bracket, meaning they will host their opponent on either Dec. 4 or 5 with a trip to Las Vegas for the tournament’s semifinals on the line. With their dominant point differential — the Lakers beat Phoenix , Memphis , Portland and Utah by a combined 74 points in group play — Los Angeles is the heavy favorite to earn the West’s No. 1 seed and host the wild-card team.
The other undefeated contenders are the Sacramento Kings (2-0) and Minnesota Timberwolves (2-0), who are both in Group C and play each other Friday in Minnesota. Both teams trail the Lakers in point differential (the Kings are plus-16; the Wolves are plus-10). They also both have their final In-Season Tournament group play games next Tuesday, Nov. 28. One of the two would have to remain undefeated and pass the Lakers in point differential to dethrone them in the conference tournament standings.
The winners of Groups A, B and C in each conference advance to the quarterfinals, along with the best second-place team, with point differential as a tiebreaker. The Indiana Pacers secured East Group A earlier in the night.
“Whenever you can sleep in your own bed and be in your own facility at home with all of the resources you have within that building and all of the comfort you have within your own home, you’re not having to jump on a plane and jump on a bus and go to a hotel with a foreign bed, all of that plays into us continuously getting stronger, getting into a better rhythm,” Ham said before the game. “Playing in front of our own home crowd, that’s another good nugget within those circumstances.”
The Lakers have also been transparent that, while they’d love to win the tournament for competitive reasons, its cash prize is a considerable motivation.
“That purse is pretty attractive,” Ham said. “Guys like money. ... Not like it, they love it. That incentive right there, it’s huge.”
Just making it to Vegas will net the Lakers players at least $100,000 (the amount given to each player on the two losing teams in the two semifinal games on Dec. 7). Every player on the winning team in the Dec. 9 championship game will receive a $500,000 bonus. The championship runner-up is gifted $200,000 per player.
“I think the guys on the team really want that money,” Christian Wood said. “So, definitely, playing harder. Paying attention to detail. Guys coming together.”
Winning their In-Season Tournament group wasn’t the only achievement on Tuesday. LeBron James , already the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, became the first player to reach 39,000 points with a 3-pointer at the 7:11 mark of the first quarter. The 38-year-old finished with 17 points (6-of-10 shooting, 3-of-5 3-point shooting), nine assists and seven rebounds in a season-low 24 minutes, sitting the entire fourth quarter for just the third time in his unprecedented 21st season .
“I haven’t had an opportunity to really, I guess, wrap my head around what that means,” James said of reaching the 39,000-point milestone. “There’s been so many great players that came across this league since the beginning of time and so many great scorers. To be able to accomplish something that’s a first of anything, I think that’s always pretty cool. And it’s a wild moment, that’s for sure.”
While James took the humble approach, his coaches and teammates congratulated him and celebrated the feat, both in the moment and after the game.
“We should all be appreciative of what we’re witnessing,” Ham said. “Only 39,000, not 40, so he didn’t get the game ball tonight. He gets 40K, he’ll get the game ball.”
The In-Season Tournament has brought out the best in the Lakers, who won three of their four games in the competition by double-digits (and two of them by 27 or more points). At the time tournament group play began, the Lakers were just 3-5 and on a three-game losing streak. Less than two weeks later, the team is beginning to jell, having won three straight games and six of seven overall.
“We wanted to reassure that,” James said. “Obviously our first quarters throughout the majority of the season haven’t been too great for us, so we wanted to make sure that we try to get a handle on that. So, it’s been a lot better in the first quarter as of late. We’re still defending at a high level, and offense has been really good.”
Part of their recent success has stemmed from Anthony Davis’ offensive return to form. He posted 26 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes against Utah, another dominant effort to follow his 27-point, 10-rebound performance in Sunday’s win over the Houston Rockets .
The Lakers didn’t leave the game unscathed. Cam Reddish , who has emerged as an ace defender as a starter this month, only played five minutes before exiting the game with groin soreness. Max Christie stepped up in his absence, logging 25 minutes and starting in the second half. Ham indicated Christie would have a “really prominent” role on Wednesday against Dallas if Reddish is unable to play. Reddish was being evaluated by the team’s doctors Tuesday night, and the organization will have a better idea of his status Wednesday morning.
His absence left the Lakers with just nine healthy players, forcing Ham to play both D’Angelo Russell (20 points and eight assists) and Austin Reaves (19 points, five assists, three steals) in the fourth quarter despite the blowout. Wood added a season-high 16 points.
For a group that’s 7-1 at home and just 2-5 on the road, their upcoming road-heavy slate will be a considerable test. At least 10 of the Lakers’ next 14 regular-season games will be away from Los Angeles. The In-Season Tournament quarterfinal contest being an additional guaranteed home game in that stretch is a welcomed gift.
“Being home and able to sleep in our beds, not having to travel, that’s always good when you play well at home,” Davis said. “Kind of a rocky start early on on the road, so this kind of helps us out having our fans behind us. But it feels good. One step closer to winning The Cup, The In-Season Tournament Cup, NBA Cup or something like that. Yeah, so, one step closer.”
(Top photo: Kevork Djansezian / )
