Editor’s note: This is the Monday, Nov. 14 edition of the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Let’s recap another ugly week that happened to end on a high note before the Lakers take a four-day break, which in mid-season feels like a downright hibernation:

WEEK IN REVIEW

Monday, L, Utah Jazz 139, Lakers 116
Wednesday, L, Clippers 114, Lakers 101
Friday, L, Sacramento Kings 120, Lakers 114
Sunday, W, Lakers 116, Brooklyn Nets 103

The Lakers (3-10) are 14th in the Western Conference standings, 6 games behind the first-place Denver Nuggets (9-4) and Portland Trail Blazers (9-4). They’re 3 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (6-7) for a play-in slot.

HIGH POINT: The Lakers got a win on Sunday, but perhaps most importantly, Anthony Davis had his highest-scoring game (37 points) in a year-and-a-half. Attacking the rim (23 of 25 shots in the paint), he showed a side of himself – the top offensive option – that he hasn’t let come out so much since the championship year. The Lakers were able to get the better of the franchise that many rush to paint as their Eastern Conference doppelganger in dysfunction.

LOW POINT: There’s already been a pretty good list of “we nearly had it” games, and the Sacramento loss on Friday is one of those. The Lakers led by as much as 13, but couldn’t sustain their first-half edge. Their offense faltered down the stretch, unable to break the double-teams attached to Davis, and they couldn’t stop De’Aaron Fox from bringing it home. It was a game that emphasized the disharmony of the group – an inability to craft solutions in the moment, especially without LeBron James in the lineup.

TRENDING TOPIC: Generally, good vibes reign after wins. But given the events of the last two games, it has to be noted that Darvin Ham made a very conspicuous closing lineup change as the Lakers attempted to pull away from Brooklyn: With 8:28 left in the game, he subbed in rookie Max Christie for Russell Westbrook. Five minutes later, a 6-point lead had swelled to an 18-point gap.

This is not an A-to-B causal relationship, especially since Davis checked into the game at the same time. But it was notable that the group closed without Westbrook – especially given the context that he was a key factor in a 16-point lead dropping down to three in the third quarter (0 for 3 with a turnover in that four-minute stretch).

I asked Ham about the Lakers’ adjustment to their approach of closing periods, and if you don’t mind the lengthy quote here, it’s worth diving into for a minute (emphasis is mine):

“One of the biggest things we talked about was executing and being organized. Being more organized as the game wears on. Understanding time, score, momentum, what we want to get — giving ourselves a chance to get to the specific things we want to get to. And not what we’ve been doing, coming down random, random, priming, probing and now the shot clock might be down to 12 or 11 and now we’re trying to call a play. Or the guy finally sees they have nothing on their own and they’re backing up, but by that time, we’re playing against a dwindling shot clock. So, to flip that order, we slowed them down. Me, specifically, to get us into something, get us into a set, see what’s working and milk it. To make sure we’re organized first, proper spacing, proper people in the action and go from there.”

It may not have meant to be a targeted comment, but the critique syncs up with how Westbrook runs the show at breakneck speed and sometimes unpredictable results. That, combined with Davis all but calling out Westbrook for his “my bads” at the end of the second half on Friday, paints a pretty clear picture of what key figures on the team are thinking of Westbrook’s closing ability.

Westbrook is hardly alone in the issue of hurrying the offense, but in the loss to the Kings, it was obvious this was happening because he had the ball in his hands so much. The Lakers know the best option is to get the ball to Davis, or otherwise involve him in a set play such as a pick-and-roll. Westbrook had some issues getting the ball to Davis on Sunday: Of his 12 assists, just two were to Davis (who had a team-high 37 points) and he had just as many turnovers passing to his teammate.

The flummoxing thing is Westbrook has moments of brilliance followed by inexplicable folly, a maze Ham and his coaching staff are navigating game by game. Given that Westbrook has made some high-profile mistakes when holding leads – the Portland game immediately leaps to mind – the win over the Nets added to the evidence (along with the OT win against New Orleans) that the closing lineup is better without Westbrook. I wrote this week about the Lakers’ issues with clutch situations, and here’s an addendum: Westbrook has the worst plus-minus (minus-19) of any Laker in his minutes in “clutch” situations, and he’s just 1 for 7 from the field in those minutes. (Davis is 4 for 8, while James is 5 for 14).

Christie didn’t do all that much except grab a rebound in that particular shift, but the 19-year-old rookie has decent length, some defensive want-to, and he doesn’t play outside himself. In certain contexts, that humble set of traits is going to mix better with maintaining leads than Westbrook’s high-risk, high-reward approach.

READ OF THE WEEK: Let’s shout out the recently minted columnist Mirjam Swanson, who wrote about Darvin Ham’s relentless optimism in the face of what most would see as a mammoth challenge.

HEATING UP: One of the most criticized moves of the offseason was when the Lakers used their mid level exception to sign Lonnie Walker IV. While the opportunity cost of that move could still be debated, there’s little denying that the 23-year-old has held up his end of the bargain. In his last two games, he’s scored 44 points, shooting 6 for 9 from deep while trying to chip in for LeBron’s scoring load. Since the start of the year, he’s been a competent defender on the perimeter – the key difference is that he can do that while also adding scoring power. If the Lakers had more guys who could do both, they’d be in a better place.

COOLING DOWN: Not so much “cooling down” as “remaining frigid” – Damion Jones was ostensibly a feel-good signing after his previous eight-game stint saw him play his heart out in the 2020-21 season. There hasn’t been much of that. In the last week, he played just 23 minutes, few of them meaningful. Ham has turned to Wenyen Gabriel more than Jones, even against teams with size like Ivica Zubac or Domantas Sabonis. After shooting 16 for 17 in his prior run with the Lakers, he’s just 50% from the field this time – and doesn’t make enough of a defensive impact to see the floor.

INJURY REPORT: LeBron James has missed two games with a strained left adductor, but Ham said Sunday that he might have been able to play against the Nets in a higher-stakes game. The Lakers are looking to get him healthy and rested on the long layover this week. They’re also hoping that Dennis Schröder and Thomas Bryant (thumb surgeries), who have yet to play a game, get cleared Thursday for the home contest with the Pistons. That would bring the Lakers up to full strength for the first time … all season.

QUOTABLE: Truly, it was nice to see Ham be able to smile after a game, and he was happiest Sunday when talking about coaching Davis: “It’s been a joy. He’s a great kid to come and see every day. To have to call this work, it should be illegal. He’s been nothing but fun, joy and had a real good conversation with him after our last game, our last loss. And he just said, ‘I got your back, Coach.’ And that was huge for me being a first-time head coach and having a player of that magnitude just constantly try and do everything you ask him to do.”

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: The biggest breakthrough of the schedule is days off. The Lakers are going to take it easier for the next few days, with an off-day Monday and some film and treatment work on Tuesday. There’s a lot to look forward to with players getting healthy, but also this: According to Basketball Reference, the Lakers have the 29th most difficult remaining schedule, and that includes games against Detroit (3-11), three games against San Antonio (6-7) and one against Indiana (6-6) before December.

COMING UP (All times PT)

Friday, Detroit, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, San Antonio, 6:30 p.m.

– Kyle Goon

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

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