In a sea of terrible play and even worse results, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to find a positive moment.
With about five seconds left in Friday's game against the Toronto Raptors, Russell Westbrook stole the ball and hit a game-tying three-pointer. In overtime, it was Avery Bradley that hit a massive shot with around 30 seconds left to put the Lakers up two. After some free-throws following a Scottie Barnes turnover, the game was over and the Lakers won it 128-123.
Here are three reasons why the Lakers' thrilling win against the Raptors can be their turning point as the postseason fast approaches.
3 reasons why Lakers' win over Raptors will be their turning point
Russell Westbrook is waking up
To see Westbrook struggle in the early parts of the season is nothing new. He usually ramps it up as time goes on in the season. Yet his historically awful struggles, especially on the offensive end, have been noted, ridiculed and elicited serious abuse against him this season.
As a result, many believed that Westbrook was just going to lay an egg over the season's remainder, continuing to play poorly before parting ways with Los Angeles this summer. Then, when the Lakers badly needed a win, he showed up. It was not only the steal and the go-ahead shot, it was also 20 points on 4-7 shooting from three, with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Russell Westbrook on how he moves on from badly missed jumpers:
“I got 23,000 points. How about that?"
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) March 19, 2022
The Westbrook that we saw on Friday night is the player these Lakers really need.
While it is obviously too early to tell, this could mark e a major turn for the veteran guard and former MVP. The Lakers are bleeding for a secondary option, not only in terms of scoring but in terms of everything else, as LeBron James has well and truly put this team on his back. He rebounds, plays defense, assists, facilitates, scores and also mentally leads this group, so to get a night off in terms of everything else but scoring must have been nice for the 37-year-old.
While Anthony Davis is supposed to be that secondary guy in terms of scoring, Westbrook fully understood and performed his role as secondary facilitator and assister of this team — and it immediately led to a win.
Supporting cast came through and should continue coming through
The biggest issue of the Lakers this season, apart from Westbrook being useless on offense for massive stretches of games, is their supporting cast. The biggest support for James this season, apart from an episodic Davis and inconsistent Westbrook, has come from Carmelo Anthony and Malik Monk.
Against the Raptors, however, the squad came through as three additional Lakers joined James and Westbrook in double-figures. Avery Bradley scored 14 off the bench, Austin Reaves scored 10, and forward Wenyen Gabriel had a highly efficient 17 points on just eight shots, including three makes in three attempts from three.
If the Lakers keep getting these kinds of performances from their other players, they should be golden for the postseason.
It is an ego-booster of a game
Winning a game in the NBA already boosts the ego and confidence of players, but to fully understand the impact this win can have on this team specifically, we need to gather the full context.
In the last 20 seconds of the game, both James and Westbrook missed go-ahead buckets to seal the game for the Lakers, with the latter's miss ending up in the hands of the Raptors. At that point, the headlines were already being written about another Lakers collapse, but then the most critiqued guy on the team stole the ball and tied the game. Due to all the support that was given to Westbrook by his teammates, all throughout the year, that shot going in felt great for everyone.
Tie it at the buzzer?
Why Not? pic.twitter.com/q50pxcP9F8
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 19, 2022
These are exactly the kinds of games that turn the season around and it should be the case for the Lakers as well. It is not only the fact that they were down and out, but that they gave all their critics something juicy to write about after the James and Westbrook missed shots late.
To come from that far down and then steal the game away from home will be an incredible boost for Los Angeles. Lord knows they needed it and now that they got it, we should expect the Lakers to play a lot better as the play-in tournament comes closer on the calendar.
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