LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers were able to get into the win column on Friday night after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves, 128-110. While much of the postgame focus was on Luka Doncic’s franchise record-setting night, a huge part of the win was the increased aggressiveness of Deandre Ayton, especially in the second half of the game.
For Lakers forward Rui Hachimura, he noticed a shift in Deandre Ayton’s focus coming out of halftime, and he made sure to tap into that to get Ayton fired up.
“Especially in the second half. . .the first half he didn’t really play that well. After the first half coming out into the third quarter, I saw in his eyes that he was locked in. So I was like, ‘come on DA, let’s go,’” Hachimura said. “He was amazing, rebounding, just being presence on defense, on offense. . .he did all that we asked for, he was the man.”
In the win against the Timberwolves, Ayton finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and one blocked shot in 31 minutes. He shot 7-of-11 from the field. Ayton’s Lakers debut on opening night against the Golden State Warriors wasn’t bad; he finished with ten points and six rebounds while shooting 5-of-7 from the field.
The only issue with Ayton’s first game was that he was a little bit passive. That and it’s clear he’s still building cohesiveness with his new teammates. Following the loss to the Warriors, Ayton admitted that it’s sometimes confusing for teammates to play with a center like him.
But on Friday, the rest of the team, especially Doncic, made a concerted effort to look for Ayton around the basket. He played with force and aggression, and it felt like half of Doncic’s eight assists were off Ayton’s finishes.
With the Lakers’ two top scorers in Doncic and LeBron James now sidelined for the time being, this upcoming stretch of games is a chance for Ayton to be even more assertive on the offensive end.
Throughout his career, the former No. 1 overall pick has always put up borderline All-Star numbers. He holds career averages of 16.4 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 blocked shots with splits of 59 percent shooting from the field and 75.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
Following the Lakers’ game against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, they come back home on Monday for the second game of a back-to-back against the Portland Trail Blazers.
