Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Lessons learned from Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks sweep

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s jumper came back from the dead and actually bailed the Los Angeles Lakers out! 

Things were bad for KCP. Real bad. He was the butt of everyone’s jokes, he missed layups, he was a regular on Shaqtin A Fool, then the boo birds came.

He was so bad that earlier in the week, Dwight Howard and Alex Caruso spoke out on social media telling the Lakers fans to support him through this rough time. When head coach Frank Vogel notices the criticism of Caldwell-Pope, you know things are close to rock bottom.

The first thing KCP was thankful for was that he hurt his ankle instead of his Achilles. Then he could be thankful that he had a major impact against Sacramento and came through when his team really needed it.

The Lakers do not win the Sacramento game without Caldwell-Pope’s 12 points in the fourth quarter. He rode that wave to finish with 16 points. He played solid defense down the stretch to help the Lakers slide out with a win.

This rough patch may have brought this team even closer. It could have been easy for two bench players like Caruso and Howard to distance himself and take his minutes. This shows that all the players on the roster support each other and root for one another.

To see LeBron James publicly come out and support KCP shows growth in his leadership as well. He has really stayed in Caldwell-Pope’s ear giving him encouragement since the season started.

Couple this game with his performance against the Hawks with his defensive intensity, maybe things can turn around for KCP.