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While the All-Star break can serve as a chance to rest and recuperate before going on a run to close the season, it can disrupt teams’ rhythm and create another hurdle.
For the Lakers, it’s definitely been the latter. After beating the Clippers in its first game out of the break, LA lost three straight in increasingly frustrating performances.
Saturday, then, was a nice return to form for the Lakers. Even if it came against an undermanned Warriors team, it was an important win to steady the ship and get the team back on course.
And not only was it a win, but a dominating one at that.
“It goes back to just finding that consistent level of playing the right way on both ends, doing what we’re supposed to be doing, executing at a high level,” head coach JJ Redick said of the victory. “You saw those trends. We haven’t had it for a sustained full stretch of a game, really. It’s come in spurts in all four of our games prior to this. It was definitely our most complete game post-All-Star break.”
The Lakers haven’t had many victories as decisive and, frankly, easy as Saturday’s was this season. From the jump, LA came into the game with the right approach and never took the Warriors lightly.
For many reasons, that’s an important sign for the Lakers. First, Saturday was the first of a string of games against bad teams for the Lakers with the Kings and Pelicans coming to LA over the next week.
Second, though, is that the purple and gold have not had the right approach to many games this season, regardless of the opponent. It can probably be counted on one hand the number of games like Saturday’s where LA dominated throughout and the stars were on the bench midway through the fourth.
The Lakers have a chance to really get back on track in the coming days with a weaker schedule. If they bring the same approach to those games as they did on Saturday, a complete performance and victory should follow.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.