Sacramento Kings: Game 56 Preview vs Los Angeles Lakers
By Tyler Watts
Los Angeles Lakers’ Scouting Report
The Los Angeles Lakers enter tonight’s game with a record of 19 wins and 37 losses. That places them 14th in the Western Conference and 6.5 games out of the 8th seed.
The team recently committed to going younger and playing starting their up and coming players. Since that decision, the Lakers have won two of their last three games and are averaging 115 points per game in those three games.
Last time out, the Lakers traveled to Milwaukee and vanquished the Bucks 122-114 on Friday night. The Lakers started fast scoring 47 first quarter points and never looked back. Below is a highlight video from that game to allow you a look at the Lakers’ most recent form.
Coach Walton: Trend Setter or Missing the Boat
The first year Head Coach Luke Walton has displayed a very interesting trend with his rotations. On the season, Julius Randle leads the Lakers with 28.4 minutes played per game. For a reference point, 103 NBA players average more minutes per game than Julius Randle. Ten Lakers average between 28.4 and 20.7 minutes per game for the season. It appears that Luke Walton has a philosophy of not playing his players heavy minutes each and every night.
This team is clearly out of contention and into “rebuilding mode”, so why are the Lakers not giving the minutes to their young developing players?
It will be interesting to see if Coach Walton changes this philosophy going down the stretch or if he believes that 28 minutes a night is the maximum a player should play. Stay tuned.