Austin Reaves was tired Monday, the Lakers having just wrapped up a really hard practice.
In the first minutes of Game 1 Saturday evening, he was tired too.
As Reaves walked off the court for the first time, his chest heaved as he grabbed for air and he slumped to grab his shorts, telltale signs that he’d given a lot of effort in his first shift.
But giving effort and playing hard, at least internally in the Lakers’ dictionary, have two different definitions. And in what became a theme in the Lakers’ series-opening loss to the Timberwolves, the Lakers figured out ways to do the one and not enough of the other.
It’s why it might sound simplistic when JJ Redick said the Lakers’ biggest adjustments start with them “playing harder and being organized,” but one without the other won’t lead them to the kinds of results they need Tuesday.
Asked what it looks like when the Lakers are “playing hard,” Reaves said it’s about more than flying around the court with no greater purpose other than to sweat. It’s energy, sure, but it’s focused, intentional and tough.
“Just think it’s the how connected we are when everybody’s giving it everything they have on every possession. You’re more locked into every detail on both ends of the floor. And that’s what the playoffs is about, winning on small details. Unfortunately we didn’t do it the first game.”
Asked about potential adjustments, Redick said he would share only one.
“Not giving away our adjustments — got to play harder,” Redick said.
The Lakers didn’t spend a lot of time wondering why in Game 1 of a playoff game, at home even, they didn’t play hard enough, but a look at their season shows some of the ways it could’ve been predicted.
When the team was faced with a long break while games were postponed because of the Los Angeles area wildfires, they managed just 102 points in a loss to the Spurs. After the seven-day All-Star break, the Lakers scored 97 points against Charlotte. And after he missed two weeks, LeBron James’ return to the Lakers was spoiled by a complete defensive no-show where the team allowed 146 points.
And an optimist would point out the Lakers won 12 of 14 after the loss to the Spurs and then won eight-straight after losing to the Hornets. And while James’ ramp-up after his injury return included a clunker in Orlando and a buzzer-beater in Chicago, the team quickly found its footing in good wins against Houston and in Memphis and Oklahoma City.
The other part of the equation, organization, means more than the Lakers’ point guard calling plays, Redick said.
“No, it’s just all of the normal stuff that we try to do and when we do it, we’re really good,” he said. “Being organized is screening. Being organized is getting to the proper spacing. Being organized is getting the corners filled after makes and misses. That’s being organized.”
In Game 1, the Lakers played a lot more like the team that lost to the Spurs, the Hornets and the Bulls than the one that performed its best in big games. And they looked that way because the Lakers didn’t “play hard” in the right ways. Because when they are, you can tell.
“We’re communicating, giving second and third efforts. Teams getting one shot at the rim, you know, not two,” Dorian Finney-Smith said. “I wouldn’t say we wasn’t playing hard because our first shot defense was good, you know, we just wasn’t getting those loose balls. They were first to the ball. And that don’t mean it wasn’t playing hard. It just means they was just a little bit more into it. And we got to do the same.”
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