JaVale McGee admitted his Los Angeles Lakers are not underestimating any teams in their quest for a high playoff seed, noting their mindset is to ignore the win-loss record and play teams with their best effort.
The Lakers certainly came out with the necessary energy on Sunday, racking up a quick 34-9 lead against the struggling Atlanta Hawks before rolling to a 122-101 victory. McGee was part of that fast start:
“We've been trying to play even bad teams like they're championship teams,” said McGee, according to Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen & Roll. “We're going hard.”
That mentality has spread across all 15 players in the roster, including McGee's backup Dwight Howard, who has fully bought into a new role and has been flourishing in it:
“How often do I think about the big picture? There's not a day goes by where it doesn't cross my mind,” said Howard, according to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times. “When I wake up, when I go to sleep, when I'm in practice, when I'm not in practice. … You gotta see it to believe it. I see us every day holding up a trophy.”
It helps when everyone, even players past superstars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis, have the vision to do what it takes to haul in the big prize. It takes a certain mentality to persevere and not let up against inferior teams or ones that aren't fully healthy, but this is something that Lakers can do for a whole season before they go from being the hunters to the hunted.
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