Injuries affect every NBA team, some more than others, but it unfortunately struck the Los Angeles Lakers at a bad time with LeBron James and Rui Hachimura recently missing extended time.
Both James and Hachimura have returned in time to ramp up for the playoffs, although since becoming whole once again, L.A. has struggled on both sides of the ball, resulting in a 2-2 road trip.
Coming into a massive matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies with seeding implications on the line, the Lakers fortunately pulled out a win. It was their best offensive performance in a while, and Hachimura discussed how James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are getting open looks for him and his teammates.
“Being around those three guys (James, Doncic and Reaves), the fit and we talked about it after the game too,” he said after Saturday’s 132-127 win. “Doe Doe, Gabe (Vincent), myself, I think we can get literally wide open shots every time. For other teams, they have to guard those three guys literally. So, I think that was a great team win and we got to keep building chemistry. We had a little stretch of lot of injured guys, in and out, schedule and whatever. But, we got to get back to wherever we left off in March. We got to keep building our chemistry to prepare for the playoffs.”
As a team, the Lakers shot 44% from deep against Memphis with Hachimura going 3-of-5 and finishing with 13 points.
Integrating an all-world talent in Doncic is a great problem for head coach JJ Redick to have, but the team certainly showcased it’s ceiling in the beginning of March and now against the Grizzlies. Now, it is about replicating that dominant play while maintaining their defense.
Since having a healthy team again, the defensive end has dropped significantly with the communication and rotations. Memphis got going offensively in the second half, but thankfully L.A.’s impressive 3-point shooting kept them afloat.
While Hachimura is still working back to 100% health, he showed how impactful he is for the Lakers and how important he will be to the team reaching its goals.
Rui Hachimura still not feeling 100% healthy despite returning
In what looked to be a freak accident, Rui Hachimura injured his knee on a dunk back on Feb. 27. Hachimura missed a few weeks with left patellar tendinopathy and admitted that he still is not feeling 100% healthy and may not be until the season is over.
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