The Los Angeles Lakers played their best game of the season on Tuesday, a 141-116 shellacking against the Atlanta Hawks on the second night of a back-to-back after their worst loss of the season to the Sacramento Kings.
What inspired this response? Coach JJ Redick and the Lakers had their usual pregame meeting, but Tuesday’s was different.
“I thought it started with our pregame meeting,” Redick said postgame. “And I thought we were all collectively, coaches, players, we got to a good place to go compete and go compete together and go play for each other.”
Redick wouldn’t reveal exactly what was said in the meeting, just that it was like any other meeting, only this time he put more emphasis on needing a response. LeBron James and Luka Dončić revealed a bit more.
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LeBron, Luka share takeaways from meeting
“I mean, we just took the words to heart and came out and played Laker basketball,” said James, who finished the night with 31 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. “We sustained that for the majority of the game… we put together a really good game.”
Dončić, who ended with 27 points, five rebounds and 12 assists, added, “JJ always talks, so it’s a lot of things I can get from that. But today was kind of different. He just got us pumped.”
Los Angeles is 24-14 and sitting fifth in the Western Conference as of Wednesday morning. Embattled with injuries, the Lakers are still searching for a stable identity.
Their next matchup is against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday.
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