If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to make a late surge up the standings, they are going to have to be in must win mode from here until the end of the regular season
They have won three of their last four and are coming off of a massive win over the Houston Rockets who are currently the second placed team in the Western Conference. The win keeps them in the hunt for the No. 2 seed heading into the playoffs, but it wasn’t the usual suspects carrying the load for the Lakers on Monday.
Luka Doncic led the way with 20 points, but he LeBron James and Austin Reaves combined for just 48 points which meant the supporting cast had to step up and make plays down the stretch.
Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent put up 20 points a piece and each hit six three pointers to help guide the Lakers over the Rockets from the Crypto.com Arena. Luka told his buddy and former Mavericks teammate, Finney-Smith that he needs to keep shooting the ball to keep the defense on their toes.
I think he could have shot more even. Three or four times he was open, he didn’t want to shoot it. That’s the only thing I told him, and he knows how I tell him,” said Luka.
Since coming to LA, Luka is averaging 27.2 points per game while putting up an average of 20 field goal attempts an outing. LeBron is getting up 18.3 shots a game this season and Austin Reaves gets 14.2 field goals up a game, but the trio knows they are going to need production from the role players. That’s well over half of the 89.1 shots the Lakers take a game, but Luka wants to see Finney-Smith’s practice swag carry over in the games.
