Max Christie finding his rhythm in Lakers’ rotation
CLEVELAND — When discussing basketball players establishing a rhythm for themselves, most of the focus is put on the offensive side of the ball.
But the way Max Christie sees it, individual defensive rhythm can be established too – which helped him when guarding Donovan Mitchell in the Lakers’ 121-115 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Saturday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Before taking on the primary defensive assignment against Mitchell, Christie, in his first start of the season, was tasked with guarding Kyrie Irving in Wednesday’s home loss to the Dallas Mavericks since Cam Reddish was sidelined because of left adductor soreness . Irving got the best of Christie when they were matched up, but Christie made it tough for the All-Star guard.
“Kyrie, he’s a Hall of Famer,” Christie said. “One of the best to ever do it. For me, being able to feel like I could’ve stuck with him a little bit, I thought I did a pretty good job with him last game, so that gave me a little bit of confidence coming into [Saturday].”
With Reddish once again sidelined, Christie was back in the starting lineup and took on the toughest defensive assignment by guarding Mitchell. He also guarded Darius Garland in stretches but not for too long since Garland didn’t play the second half and was limited to 14 minutes because of a neck strain.
Christie more than held his own against Mitchell. He was credited with holding Mitchell to 1-of-7 shooting, according to the league’s tracking data. Christie didn’t “shut down” the All-Star guard, but he made his shots more difficult – which is all you can ask for when guarding a player of Mitchell’s caliber.
“When you’re trusted by your coaches, that helps,” LeBron James said. “So knowing that he’s going to get his number called, he’s been ready. And he stepped up. And he was big-time. One of the tough matchups in this league is Donovan Mitchell, obviously, his ability to score on all three levels – from the 3 line, from the midrange, get into the paint – he did a good job of just trying to keep his body on him, make him take tough shots and not foul him.”
And when the Lakers needed stops down the stretch to seal the victory, Christie stayed in front of Mitchell and forced him to miss tough looks in the game’s most crucial moments.
“He plays hard and is going to take that challenge against a guy who is an elite scorer from all three levels,” Anthony Davis said. “He made sure that he knows his tendencies and took on that challenge especially late game when they know, the whole arena, knows they’re going to him – especially with Darius Garland out. So he was the guy and he had two big stops for us. There’s nothing much more you can ask for. For him to only be in his second year, to take on that challenge, it shows a lot about him.”
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“He’s a smart kid, he plays the game the right way and he knows that,” Austin Reaves said. “He knows that he’s probably not going to get a lot of shots so to get himself in a good rhythm early, like tonight, he had some really good cuts for two dunks and that does something for you earlier in a game. You get to feel a little bit better, especially if you haven’t been shooting the ball as [well] as you’d like. That just speaks to the character of him and the professionalism.”
LAKERS AT 76ERS: Monday, 7 p.m.
: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
TV/radio: NBA TV, Spectrum SportsNet, 710 AM
