Lakers: Lou Williams Sets New Bench Scoring Record

Dec 9, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Lou Williams (23) defended by Phoenix Suns forward Alan Williams (15) during a basketball game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 9, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Lou Williams (23) defended by Phoenix Suns forward Alan Williams (15) during a basketball game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Despite dropping their past five contests, the Los Angeles Lakers second unit continues to set new standards for bench production

The bright spot for the Lakers this season has definitely been the production of their bench, validating the once questionable move by Luke Walton to move Jordan Clarkson to the second unit to play alongside Lou Williams.

Not only is the bench leading all second units in scoring, averaging over 55 points a contest, but Williams recently set an NBA record for most points scored by a bench player in four game stretch with 137 points, an average of 34.25 points per contest.

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Dropping 40, 24, 38 and 35 against the Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns respectively, Williams most impressive stat is actually the efficiency with which he is scoring the ball, shooting 53 percent over that stretch.

That said, if you’ve ever seen Sweet Lou play, you know he isn’t taking easy shots. Most interested in a variety of contested floaters and fading threes, Williams is somehow still managing to stay productive.

Sadly, this hasn’t translated to wins for the Purple and Gold, but fans should be encouraged by the fact that the team has kept their past four games relatively close, sans the loss to the Rockets.

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LA should be on their way back to winning with the return of D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young in the coming weeks.

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Another silver lining is that even with their last five losses, which brought their record to 10-15, Los Angeles still sits in ninth place in the Western Conference and has a friendly patch of winnable games coming up.