Admittedly, I wasn’t patient with this Lakers team.
After the loss to Utah on Thursday, I was at my boiling point, frustrated with another lackluster performance both offensively and defensively. Only a small piece of me was upset that I wouldn’t see the Lakers last night due to a family trip, and when I checked in during the first half, the Lakers were down double digits in the first half. I had succumbed to looking up mock drafts and prospect profiles this morning, preparing for another down season.
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Instead, when I checked the score early this morning, I had to do a double take, unsure of whether my groggy eyes were deceiving me. Yep, the Lakers had in fact pulled off the comeback. Sure, it was mainly against second and third string players, but those are the same second and third stringers who helped blow out the Lakers just a few nights before.
Like many other Lakers faithful, I’ve been impatient this preseason. After the atrocity of last season, the return of Kobe Bryant, and the exciting prospects of Julius Randle, I wanted the Lakers to show me something early on in the preseason. However, all I was seeing was blown defensive assignments on defense and ball-watching on offense.
Last night, particularly in the second half, the Lakers looked like a team that the optimistic Lakers fans had hoped for. They finally made defensive stops and created turnovers. They finally relied not entirely on Kobe Bryant. They stormed out of the gate in the 3rd quarter, starting the second half on a 23-4 run.
Ronnie Price (6 points, 10 assists, 4 steals), Wesley Johnson (8 points, 3 steals), and Carlos Boozer (19 points, 9 rebounds, 6 steals) all had their best outings in the short Lakers season. Even Randle, who came under scrutiny from Byron Scott last contest, earned the praises of his head coach for his improved effort on the night. Hell, we saw them take 13 three pointers, too!
And all this was done without Nick Young, Jeremy Lin, Jordan Clarkson, Xavier Henry, and Ryan Kelly.
The Lakers need patience this season. They aren’t going to be a complete project yet, and injuries are the main cause. There are going to be performances similar to what we saw early in the preseason, but there will hopefully be more of what we saw last night.
If I can practice patience with this team, surely you can.