It felt like the Los Angeles Lakers were spiraling last week. There's nothing like two games against underwhelming competition to completely change the energy in the building. This time, however, the results come with more than a pinch of salt. Seeing how convincing the wins were made a big difference to those watching.
After going 4-4 on an eight-game homestand in February, JJ Redick called the Lakers a 'work in progress.' Los Angeles did nothing to erase that thought by following up the mediocre stretch with an incredibly tight loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday. A back-to-back on the weekend told another story.
The Lakers traveled to the Bay Area on Saturday and pummeled the Golden State Warriors in a dominant 129-101 win. They followed that up by blasting the Sacramento Kings in an equally impressive 128-104 one-sided blowout on Sunday. Notice the margins of victory for both?
Lakers reporter Jovan Buha pointed out on Twitter/X: "The Lakers have not had consecutive double-digit wins since Nov. 28 and 30 -- over three months ago."
Lakers showed they can do what great teams should against bad competition
The games Buha mentioned were far less impressive margins than these recent outings were. Nov. 28 was a 10-point win over the Dallas Mavericks. Nov. 30 featured a 12-point result over the New Orleans Pelicans. Both were good wins, just not quite as good as what they did during this past weekend.
A common, and justified, criticism of the Lakers this season has been how concerning their blowout losses against great teams are when coupled with lackluster wins on other end of the equation. The first problem has not been solved, but maybe the latter can be.
No one is suddenly going to flip the script and call the Lakers contenders after beating teams like the Warriors and Kings. However, these were two of the four biggest margins of victory for Los Angeles this season. The fact it occurred during a back-to-back only adds to the encouragement.
Maybe it was the looming threat of slipping back into the Play-In Tournament that galvanized the Lakers. Whatever the case, the results were there and the spirits were noticeably up among the team.
There will be one more direct opportunity to extend the good vibes for the Lakers. Tuesday will be another matchup against lackluster opposition. They will host the 19-43 New Orleans Pelicans. Perhaps another win can really send Los Angeles into a true test — like the one they will get against the Denver Nuggets right after — on a real high note.