Los Angeles Lakers: South Bay Lakers show promising start to season

While the Los Angeles Lakers G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, have a losing record currently, they are showing signs of improvement.

The Los Angeles Lakers G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, are currently off to a losing 2-3 start, snagging wins from the Agua Caliente Clippers and Sioux Falls Skyforce. With 50 games in a G League season, South Bay still has plenty of time to get back on track with a winning record.

Their NBA affiliate, the Los Angeles Lakers (obviously), have a winning record of 12-2, leading the Western Conference. They share two-way players Kostas Antetokounmpo and Zach Norvell Jr. with South Bay.

The season started with their first game against the Northern Arizona Suns. The Suns beat them in scoring during three-quarters of the game, shooting a 39 FG% compared to the Lakers’ 21 percent. The game was even within three points with under a minute left in the fourth quarter. It came down to a missed 3-pointer by Lakers’ Earnest Ross and a defensive foul on Keljin Blevins.

Devontae Cacok secured his first double-double of the season, with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Ross put up 18 points as well and Antetokounmpo had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Cacok has gone on to earn double-doubles in all five games so far this season.

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Next, they faced the Oklahoma City Blue. Another loss, this time defense is the issue. Blue’s Luguentz Dort scored 35 points and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell went 10-for-15, collecting 26 points. Overall, the two teams shot nearly identically percentage-wise. It came down to just a few more made free throws and two 3-pointers. Lakers’ Gary Payton II, Antetokounmpo and Cacok all showed consistency from game one with double-doubles.

They finally pulled together a win for Game 3 against the Agua Caliente Clippers. This will be an interesting match up to see later in the season since the Clippers were missing four players, including a two-way contract player, Amir Coffey. However, it may not make a difference because the entire Clippers team, with the exception of one, were all in the negative of their +/-.

The Lakers remained almost all in the positive, with another Cacok double-double. Antetokounmpo went 8-of-11 from the field and shot 100% from the line. Altogether he had 23 points, with the help of David Stockton adding 18 points himself. Stockton shot 5-of-12 though from the field, so as his accuracy increases, he will make a growing impact for South Bay. What also really helped was the Lakers shooting a team free throw percentage of 92%.

Game 4 was against the Sioux Falls Skyforce, for another win. A three point game, the Lakers pulled through despite missing three players. Of course, another Cacok double-double but Norvell Jr. contributed 23 points, making six 3-pointers. Talen Horton-Tucker also put up 22 points. A close game in nature, the Skyforce had three players scoring over 20 points.

Finally, the Lakers faced the Memphis Hustle, losing by 17 points. Antetokounmpo didn’t play with his typical dominance and only had 10 points. Both Cacok and Payton II had double-doubles in points and rebounds. Even Stockton stepped up again for 19 points and nine assists. The Lakers even out-rebounded the Hustle 61-48.

Unfortunately, it came down to Memphis’ NBA-caliber team, playing past Phoenix Suns’ Josh Jackson and De’Anthony Melton. Jackson had 22 points, shooting 9-of-15 from the field with a +/- of 29. Melton also went off, scoring 27 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Yuta Watanabe and Jarrod Uthoff also made it tough on the Lakers with their high scoring.

Despite these losses, their ability to stay competitively close in the games will allow them to push through and win. When Jordan Caroline returns, he will be able to provide additional help on defense to help prevent runs like Dort’s.

It wouldn’t be surprising if they are able to be a top team in the G League and compete into the playoffs, especially with Cacok’s success.