Tuesday night’s 117-92 victory over the Sacramento Kings has been the best result the Los Angeles Lakers have picked up in the 2021-22 NBA regular season. And it came in a tough moment with LeBron James out due to Covid-19.
The Lakers’ road win improved their record to 12-11, which still falls short of the expectations they had during the offseason. But the truth is that this win could have a great impact on the team’s morale for the remainder of the campaign.
Los Angeles have finally showed off all their firepowerafter starting the game on the wrong foot. Postgame, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook were among the players who emphasized on the importanceofFrank Vogel‘shalftime speech.
Anthony Davis andRussell Westbrook speak up onLakers’ comeback win in Sacramento
It looked like things would only get worse for the Lakers during their trip to Sacramento. But, after a weak start, they pulled off a complete different version in the second half, outscoring the Kings 67-33.
Clearly, the Lakers made the best of the break to turn things around. “At halftime we had a conversation about the team that we want to be,” Anthony Davis said, per SB Nation’s Silver Screen and Roll. “We’ve got to buckle down on the defensive end, and we were able to do that, hold them to 15, 18… That’s the way we’ve got to start the games, though. If we start the games with that defensive presence, we’ll be a very good team.”
But what did Frank Vogeltell them? “Coach was pretty upset, you know? But I think his whole point was ‘stop talking about wanting to win a championship and not giving the correct effort,’” Dwight Howard revealed. “And he’s right. he’s spot-on. You can’t keep saying ‘we want to win, we want to accomplish these different things’ if we’re not willing to put in the work.
“And we have to play together, and in the second half, I think we did that,” he continued. “I think that was one of the best third quarters we’ve had all year, and it’s because of the energy… So we’ve got to continue to play defense like this for the rest of the season, but one game at a time. One game at a time.”
Russell Westbrook, who didn’t have an easy start to life in Los Angeles, has also spoken about the halftime talk.“I think for the team it was good,” he said. “It got guys going, it got their minds right. But honestly, for me personally, I already knew I was playing ******, so I knew I had to step it up anyway for us to have a better chance to win the game, so that’s why there are two halves in this game, and the tale of two halves will tell the difference in tonight’s game.”
Westbrook’s point of view is pretty accurate. The Lakers looked like two different teams that night. But from now on, they’ll try toshow only the best version of themselves, starting with their game against the Clippers on Friday night.