Even in a normal setting, there’s only so much that can be taken away from a preseason game. Neither of the first two exhibition games for the Lakers were normal either.
On Friday, they played without four
players, including LeBron James and Luka Dončić, and they lost to the Suns . Two days later on Sunday, they added Austin Reaves to the list of unavailable players while only welcoming back Gabe Vincent. Again, the result was a loss.
One of the major takeaways from the loss to Phoenix was the lack of competitiveness the Lakers had. That changed on Sunday where, despite what the score looked like at times, the purple and gold were much more competitive against the full-strength Warriors.
“Much better,” Redick said of the competitiveness from the team. “Part of what we’re trying to do is do it consistently over and over and over. We played about 38 minutes of good basketball. At the end of that first half, second quarter, they finish on 10-0 run then I’m not sure what was going on at the start of the third quarter. But outside of that, those two stretches, we played much better.”
In that aforementioned stretch from Redick of the five minutes on either side of halftime, the Lakers were outscored 42-19. Over the rest of the game, they were far more competitive and outscored Golden State, even despite playing against the starters and regular rotation for the Warriors in the first half.
It was a far more encouraging performance for the Lakers, who looked pretty disappointing for much of the game against Phoenix. While the actual offense and the X’s and O’s were going to be off with LeBron and Luka out, effort can still be there. Too often on Friday, it wasn’t apparent.
On Sunday, it was clear that was a point of emphasis because the Lakers looked the aggressor in that aspect from the jump.
Hopefully, as the likes of Luka, Reaves and, hopefully, LeBron join the fold in the preseason, they’ll maintain that level of competitiveness and have their talent level eventually match it.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
