The Los Angeles Lakers are stuck in another rut in an NBA season that has been full of them. They have lost three games in a row as they are trying to figure things out with so many important pieces sidelined.
Los Angeles has five players in Trevor Ariza, Austin Reaves, Kent Bazemore, Avery Bradley and Malik Monk still in the protocols after Dwight Howard and Talen Horton-Tucker were cleared to return earlier this week. In addition to those four players, Anthony Davis is going to be sidelined a few weeks after suffering a knee sprain last week against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
To top it off, the team is without their head coach, Frank Vogel. He is also in protocols, leading David Fizdale to take over as acting head coach.
Things have been difficult, to say the least, as the Lakers have shuffled lineups throughout the season and failed to find much consistency and continuity. The one player who has survived it all thus far has been point guard Russell Westbrook.
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Westbrook is the only player on the team to appear in all 32 games thus far this season. He has played better recently after a slow start to the season, but things remain a work in progress, especially when it comes to their Big 3 of Westbrook, Davis and LeBron James being on the same page.
Westbrook has done everything he could to help keep the team on track without Davis. He has averaged 21 points, 9.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and two steals in the two games without him. Unfortunately, he is also turning the ball over 6.5 times per game.
His performance is something that Fizdale commented on earlier this week.
“I think the circumstances over the last few games, with so many people being in and out, triggered in him that he had to save us,” Fizdale said.
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Turnovers have been something that has plagued Westbrook not only this season but throughout his career. While Westbrook is doing everything he can to help the team, Fizdale detailed that they need steady production from Westbrook at the point guard position, not hero ball.
“Some of his plays, he was probably moving too fast or trying to press when things aren’t there,” Fizdale said. “And again, these are things that we [addressed]. We had a great film session. Guys are very open and receptive, and we just talked about connection things. How do we [get this right]? OK, instead of this play, what can we do within our offensive fundamentals to lead to a great shot for us? How do we use your talent that draws all of these players to make sure that that leads to a great shot for us?
“And so that’s what the whole film session was about offensively, and again, a lot of this stuff is connection.”
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Given his personality and style of play, it is not surprising that Westbrook would turn things up seeing how many key pieces the team is without. However, having Westbrook play a more efficient style is exactly what the Los Angeles Lakers need right now.
There will be times throughout the game they need him to carry the team, but having consistent, efficient production will help the team out more now.
