LOS ANGELES — Stanley Johnson couldn’t spit out the words fast enough.

The 25-year-old forward was vibrating with intensity, his sentences shooting out in staccato as he recounted that night’s game, a five-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers that Johnson was sure in his bones had some silver lining.

“I mean there’s no ‘win’ for us tonight at all,” he said Wednesday night. “But the effort is something that we can continue playing like that, and we can use that later for what’s going on, is what I’m saying.”

It’s not exactly flattering that the Lakers have been hunting for positive signs in defeat, considering that the 126-121 loss to the 76ers is their 11th out of 15 games since the All-Star break. But Johnson exemplified the palpable buzz that the Lakers have exuded in their last four games, as the season winds down to nine games left.

The season hasn’t been what the Lakers (31-42) expected: They assembled three superstars who have played just 20 games together, and around them snatched up veterans, most of whom, at this point of the season, are contributing irregularly – if at all.

But James’ All-NBA-level play down the stretch, encouraging signs from Russell Westbrook and the surge of the Lakers’ surprising youth movement have given the team a jolt after a rough stretch of games against Phoenix, Toronto and Minnesota that signaled that they were on the verge of oblivion.

During a 2-2 stretch, the Lakers believe they’ve started to find something they can hold onto – a foothold of coherent offense and effort-first defense that can give them a puncher’s chance once they get LeBron James and Anthony Davis back on the court together. Even though the team has tumbled to ninth place in the Western Conference, needing two wins in a pair of single-elimination play-in games just to earn a seven-game series against the first-place Phoenix Suns, they’re actually starting to believe in themselves.

“What you’re looking for are signs of life for our group that, you know, we’re going to have a belief and confidence that we’re going to get into those play-in games and win those play-in games,” Coach Frank Vogel said. “And I feel good about where we’re going and what our direction is and where we’re going to be 10 games, nine games from now.”

The Lakers are still giving up points, but Vogel has been encouraged by an offense that shares the ball: Two of the Lakers’ top three assist totals this season have come in the last week: at Toronto (33) and at Cleveland (34). With the Lakers’ 3-point shooting coming up dry recently, the team has reemphasized cuts to the basket. Like the Miami Heat do with Jimmy Butler, or the Brooklyn Nets do with Bruce Brown, the Lakers want to make the pieces of their small lineups into a multi-pronged, tough-to-predict scoring threat.

“The best way to describe it is just playing through the next man, having an open paint and positionless rollers and the willingness to pocket pass and play-make from the pocket with guys that haven’t typically done that throughout their career,” Vogel said. “I think Stanley Johnson is probably leading our team in terms of adopting these techniques that you see a lot of the modern NBA use.”

One striking detail about how this scheme has come along is how the Lakers have shifted from their veterans. Center Dwight Howard has played in 10 games since All-Star break, the same number as recent addition Wenyen Gabriel. Avery Bradley has played in nine, Kent Bazemore in five, Trevor Ariza in two. Meanwhile, Austin Reaves, the team’s only rookie, has become an entrenched starter, and Malik Monk is averaging the third-most minutes on the team behind James and Westbrook.

Howard admitted it is a mental hurdle that has been difficult to vault, but the team feels bound to do anything to win: “No matter how much it might hurt us individually, just got to stick to it.”

Johnson said it hasn’t torn the locker room apart.

Related Articles

“We’re competitors and we’re ready to compete so obviously you want to play and stuff like that,” he said. “But we’re grown men. We like each other a lot. Our locker room is amazing and we compete and whoever gets out there has a chance, just an opportunity and you do with the best of your opportunity.”

The overriding hope for the Lakers is that Davis gets back in time for the play-in game (or games). The Lakers get a sneak peek of how their matchup with New Orleans could play out when they visit the Smoothie King Center on Sunday night. Westbrook called the game (the second of three regular-season meetings) “a must-win.”

Vogel has said consistently throughout that he still believes the team can compete at the end of the season. Even when the Lakers were giving up double-digit first-quarter leads two weeks ago, he stuck by that assessment. Now the Lakers might just be following suit.

“You asked if I believe that our group still has fight: I think that we showed that the last four games with how we played,” Vogel said. “I believed it then. And I still believe it now, yes.”

“There’s no win for us tonight but the effort is something we can continue.” Stanley Johnson on building towards the end of season. pic.twitter.com/rYVWUFyqcm

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 24, 2022