Austin Reaves was keen to throw himself under the bus for the Lakers’ greatest problem through their first two video games.
But he didn’t imply to drag fellow Lakers star guard Luka Doncic down with him.
It’s exhausting to be too crucial of the Lakers after their first two video games of the season – home wins over the Warriors on Wednesday and Clippers on Friday.
They won those matchups by a mixed 30 factors.
Walker Kessler is making the Lakers mind trust look like geniuses for making the investment to purchase the 7-foot-2 heart.
Reaves is enjoying at an All-Star stage after securing a four-year, $180 million contract.
Doncic continues to be the point of interest of the Lakers’ success.
The group’s roster reconstruction is paying off with an abundance of function gamers stepping up.
But the main early blemish that’s carried over from the preseason: Turnovers.
“We know the turnovers are a problem,” coach JJ Redick said. “We’ll continue to work at it, continue to get better at it.”
The Lakers adopted up recording 18 giveaways in their season opener against the Warriors by turning the ball over 21 occasions against the Clippers, immediately main to 29 factors.
Doncic and Reaves were once again the greatest culprits, combining for 17 of the group’s giveaways.
“How many did I have?,” Reaves requested after Friday’s sport.
Six.
“Oh,” Reaves responded, “it felt like 10.”
That was truly Doncic, who recorded a career-high 11 turnovers – something pointed out to Reaves.
“Y’all didn’t have to say that,” he said. “I asked about me.”
But the Slovenian guard wasn’t shy when it came to acknowledging his function in the Lakers’ turnover struggles .
“We have a lot of room left to improve,” Doncic said. “Obviously, my game was terrible. But we are 2-0. Not playing a great game by me and AR, we have a lot of room left [to grow], so it’s very exciting news, honestly.”
The Lakers’ early turnover woes are, in a manner, encouraging because of the outcomes they’re getting despite them.
They’ve scored a mixed 252 factors through their first two video games (127 against the Warriors and 125 against the Clippers).
They shot 56.8% from the subject against the Warriors, and 58.2% against the Clippers.
They’ve been dwelling up to the expectations of being an ultra-efficient, high-powered offensive group despite almost a fifth of their possessions ended in a turnover.
But they aren’t permitting their offensive success so far to take away from the progress they’re hoping to make with taking care of the ball.
They know their ceiling can be considerably increased if they clean up the ball security, particularly against groups wanting to entice Doncic and Reaves.
But some of the giveaways are also growing pains that come with such a important roster overhaul.
“The reality is a lot of the turnovers are just the pass in front of them,” Redick said. “Just make the pass in front of you. We’ve talked about it with both those guys. It’s the familiarity. They trust their teammates. They want to be playmakers. It’s building that over the course of the season to familiarity where guys are going to be in their spots. So we’ll just continue to build out our options out of that and we’ll be better.”