Lakers Take Warning on ‘Focus’ Despite Winning Streak

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Rui Hachimura #28 of the Los Angeles Lakers

A blessed break in what had been an increasingly difficult Lakers schedule came over the weekend, and the team was able to skate through with flying colors, blowing out the Warriors by 28 points on Saturday and pulling off a similar runaway on Sunday with a 24-point win over the Kings.

Golden State was down to a skeleton crew because of injuries, and the Kings are doing Kings things at this time of year, so it’s not as though those two Ws should be cause for a parade. But the Lakers took care of business, and they need to do that against bad teams.

The schedule will soon turn against the Lakers–another six-game awards trip looms in the beck end of March–so it’s imperative that the Lakers take advantage where they can. With five players, including new addition Luke Kennard, scoring in double figures on Sunday, the Lakers did their jobs.

Rui Hachimura: ‘We Have to Focus’

And for forward Rui Hachimura, that’s how the Lakers need to approach their upcoming stretch which will feature a should-win home game against the Pelicans, a one-game trip to Denver on Thursday and a five-game home stretch that will include the Knicks, Timberwolves and another bout against the Nuggets.

Said Hachimura on Sunday: “When we play good, like really good, we’re looking like a championship team. But when we are not, we have a lot of times we are not, we look like we are an out of the playoffs team. So, we have to find a time, we have to focus over a long season. It is a long season.

“We have a lot of injured guys, in and out, so we have different rotations, different kinds of starting lineups, whatever. But we have to focus on that part. We have to play together. Playing hard. Those are going to be really good for us, stay consistent and we can look like a championship team all the time.”

Lakers ‘Bounced Back’ With Wins

Hachimura has probably felt the inconsistency of the Lakers lineups more than anyone this season, as he has been the player most frequently moved in and out of the starting five through the course of the year. He is coming off the bench now, but he does have 31 starts in 48 games played this season.

The Lakers have dealt with ups and downs all season, and have struggled to get their three stars–LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves–on the same page offensively, as the three have each had injuries at successive points in the season.

Like Hachimura, coach JJ Redick is advising the team to simply keep plugging away, a game at a time.

“Again, just the world is falling for us 19 times (after double-digit losses this season),” Redick said. “It’s just part of the nature of this cycle and our guys. … Our guys bounced back and responded well throughout the season. Tied in the lost column for fifth (with Denver in the Western Conference) and a couple games out of third with a number of these teams coming up that are right there with us. So, we just are going to keep plugging away.”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney