Los Angeles Lakers: Five positive early 2019-20 season trends

1. Resiliency

Over the course of an NBA season, no team can bring its “A game” night in and night out. It’s easy to win games when everything clicks and all shots fall through the net. But the best teams find a way to win ugly, particularly when it must climb its way out of a hole. This is especially true on the road.

The Lakers have fallen behind in the early-going of several games so far, often against seemingly weaker opponents. They’ve had to overcome double-figure deficits in their victories over Memphis, Dallas and Chicago.

The season is still young, but the Lakers’ willingness to dig deep and persevere seems to reflect well on the desire of their best players and coach. This never-say-die attitude could be a good omen that will serve them well throughout the season.

We’ll find out whether the Lakers will-to-win remains as strong when injuries inevitably strike. But many experts fail to give the team credit for its roster depth. Vogel has the luxury of bringing in first-rate players like Kuzma, Howard and Rondo off the bench, along with quality subs like Caruso, Cook, Daniels, KCP and Jared Dudley.

The team’s resiliency will also be tested in December when the schedule turns tough with road games in Denver, Utah, Portland (twice), Miami, Indiana and Milwaukee and home contests against the Nuggets and Clippers.

Conclusion

The Lakers’ fast start has put the league on notice. They won’t maintain their current .818 winning percentage, which over the course of the season would result in 67 wins.

But, adding the five trends together shows that the ingredients are in place for a potential long postseason run. The key remains to stay healthy, especially Davis and James.

All statistics courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com and www.teamrankings.com