It was almost 4 a.m. Wednesday when the Lakers arrived at their hotel, their last two losses exposing some of the worst internal fears of the team.
The way they had played in the second half of losses to Denver and Phoenix had players wondering whether all the work the team had put in over the last two months had been worth it and all the effort and time spent trying to change had mattered.
When Denver pushed the familiar pressure points, the Lakers crumbled. When the offense went cold and the rims got tight in Phoenix, they folded.
Their body language said what no one dared mutter publicly: “Here we go again.”
But when the Lakers took the floor Wednesday evening, they took on the persona of their coach, JJ Redick, who said before the game, “I don’t think I’ve ever dwelled on the past.”
Energized in part by a new starting five and in part by a fresh chance to get back to winning, the Lakers played one of their most consistent games of the season on both ends of the court in a 119-101 win against the San Antonio Spurs.
Read more: Lakers look to ramp up defense with return to physical play
“I’m very proud of our group,” Redick said. “The response was great. And it’s funny because it’s literally what I talked about with them before the game. It’s just you got to let go of the past. You got to let go of the recent past and you got to get on to the next thing. And like they’ve done already on several occasions, they’ve responded.”
Redick moved rookie Dalton Knecht back into the starting five, moving Cam Reddish to the bench, and the group responded by winning each of the four quarters.
Defensively, the Lakers caused havoc and dictated the game with their physicality, pushing Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama away from the paint. Offensively, the ball popped, baskets almost always coming as result of crisp passing, the Lakers recapturing vibes that had evaporated during their three-game losing streak.
“We win games when we do that,” guard D’Angelo Russell said of the Lakers’ passing, which produced 31 assists.
When the Lakers have had 27 or more assists, they’re 9-1. When they’re below that number, they’re 2-6.
Knecht led seven players in double figures with 20 points, LeBron James had his sixth triple-double and Anthony Davis had 19 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Russell had one of his best games of the season, scoring 17 off the bench. Max Christie added 12.
Davis’ passing, in particular, energized the team and neutralized San Antonio’s defense.
“We’re just trying to get good looks, run our offense and live with the results,” Davis said. “And put guys in actions that we thought that we had an advantage with. We’re able to get some lobs, some pocket passes, some open threes. But we just stayed with it.”
The Lakers’ NBA Cup chances are still alive, but they need a win Friday against Oklahoma City, while needing the Spurs to upset the Suns.
More importantly, though, the Lakers found reason to believe that this version of themselves can be who they are moving forward — and not the rickety version from the previous three games, which featured, in one way or another, gut-churning collapses.
“We came out with force, came out with intensity,” Christie said. “Yeah, I don’t think we really slacked. I thought we did a really good job.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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