The up and rising Los Angeles Lakers are winning games even with a depleted roster. Key starters D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle are still nursing their injuries but Nick Young, a.k.a. "Swaggy P," returned to the lineup after missing the game last Friday with an injury. Despite having these injury woes, the young Lakers still managed to win against a competitive opponent.
The team beat Dwight Howard and the Atlanta Hawks at home 109-94 and swept their 2016-2017 NBA regular season series, according to Lakers Nation. The Lakers were led by their backup guards, Lou Williams with 21 points and Jordan Clarkson with 18 and 5 assists. Another huge contributor, forward Larry Nance Jr. who had a double-double off the bench with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
New head coach Luke Walton commended his second unit for doing a great job and changing the outcome of the game coming off the bench. He stated that it was the first time that all five guys are communicating on the defensive end, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Coach Walton said that his team has the best group of individuals, starting from the starters up to their bench players. The coach gave his reserves more playing time than the starters because of the intensity they provide on both ends of the court. The Hawks were outscored 35-16 when the Lakers' bench mob played in the second quarter.
The Los Angeles Lakers improved to 9-9 in the standings after having a hot start this season with a very young roster and without Laker legend Kobe Bryant. With all the injuries happening with the team, the Lakers are still hanging on and trying to be competitive enough to push for a playoff berth in the wild western conference.
Starting point guard D'Angelo Russell is also gone for a couple of weeks due to an injury. In a recent interview, Russell addressed that his team can still do well without him and he believes that this situation allows other teammates to step up.
The good news for the Lakers is that Julius Randle is getting better and is expected to return in the next few games. Coach Walton said that Randle started to join team practices last week.
While the Los Angeles Lakers have greatly struggled without their key players,the whole team still believes that they have a chance to win by trusting each other and they feel good for winning convincingly against a strong Atlanta Hawks team even with a depleted lineup.
