Los Angeles Lakers: Bench unit gets badly outplayed by Los Angeles Clippers
By Nick Ziegler
The Los Angeles Lakers fell short against the Los Angeles Clippers in the season-opener. In the loss, the bench really struggled for the Lakers.
The highly anticipated first matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers is in the books. With a great crowd for the season-opener, the Clippers were able to come out on top despite not having Paul George.
Kawhi Leonard proved that he is one of the best players on the planet, as he helped lead his new team to a win. For the Lakers, there were a lot of good things that we saw in the game, but there were some noticeable issues as well.
One of the glaring things for the Lakers was the lack of productivity from their bench. Without Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo, the second unit for the Lakers didn’t do all that well. Of the five players that came off the bench, not a single one had a positive +/-.
The Clippers bench on the other hand was fantastic. Lou Williams isn’t the Sixth Man of the Year for no reason, as he went out looking to make a claim to repeat once again on opening night. Williams finished with 21 points and seven assists to lead the bench in scoring.
While Williams was very good, he had a lot of help. Maurice Harkless, JaMychal Green and Montrezl Harrell all were in double figures. Overall, the bench for the Clippers outscored the Lakers second unit 60-19.
Frank Vogel did try to keep LeBron James or Anthony Davis on the court at all times to provide the necessary scoring, but the Lakers didn’t have anyone in the second unit step up.
Missing Kuzma and Rondo certainly had an impact for the Lakers off the bench. Kuzma is a guy that can score 20 points a night, and the Lakers could have used that off the bench. While Rondo might be a defensive liability at times, he does a great job setting up teammates for success on the offensive end.
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Next up for the Lakers will be their home-opener against the Utah Jazz on Friday night. Hopefully, the bench unit is able to contribute a bit more for them in that game.