They’ve frozen.
Losers of seven straight, the 10-17 Lakers and 36-year-old head coach Luke Walton will enter Wednesday night’s winnable contest with the Brooklyn Nets looking to get back on track.
“The reaction to losing is something Walton monitors,” Tania Ganguli wrote for the Los Angeles Times after the team’s loss to the New York Knicks. “He said the danger lies in two places. A team can become OK with losing. Or players might start trying to fix the issues by themselves. He said he hasn’t seen that happening yet.”
Here are two updates to keep in mind as Walton matches wits with another first-year head coach, Kenny Atkinson.
D'Angelo Russell's minutes could increase
After averaging 16.8 points, 4.7 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 42.3 percent from the field in his first 12 games of the year, second-year point guard D'Angelo Russell missed three weeks with a knee injury.
On Nov. 23, Russell received a platelet-rich plasma injection:
The Lakers went 3-9 without him. On Sunday, Russell returned to the starting lineup but played just 16 minutes and shot 1-of-8 from the field in a 118-112 loss to the Knicks. He turned the ball over four times.
A day later, the 20-year-old saw an uptick in minutes and looked more like his normal, sweet-shooting self. In just less than 20 minutes (19:43), Russell went 6-of-10 for 17 points and four assists. The Sacramento Kings blew out Los Angeles 116-92, and Russell was the only Laker with a positive plus/minus (plus-five).
According to the Los Angeles Times, the southpaw—as well as shooting guard Nick Young, who is recovering from a calf injury—wanted to play more. That's a ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
