by Here are the key takeaways from the Lakers’ 121-115 victory over the Cavaliers on Saturday night.
Maximum depth
In many ways, a game like this from second-year guard Max Christie was the expectation, the answer to the promise he showed as a rookie and last summer as an exciting prospect for the Lakers ready to carve out a spot in the rotation.
But those minutes weren’t really there, with the Lakers and coach Darvin Ham looking at Gabe Vincent and eventually Cam Reddish, before Christie got the nod.
While waiting, however, Christie cemented his reputation as a true professional, the kind of compliment rarely paid to 20-year-olds in an occupation where patience doesn’t always pay off.
He did it against the Cavaliers and Donovan Mitchell on Friday, and Christie turned in one of the best games of his young career in his second start for the injured Reddish.
“I think when your coaches trust you, that helps. So, knowing that they are going to call his number, he has been ready. And he stepped up,” LeBron James said of Christie. “And he was very good tonight. Largely, one of the tough matchups in this league is Donovan Mitchell, obviously. His ability to score at all three levels (from the three-point line, from mid-range, getting into the paint) I just think he did a good job of trying to keep his body on him, force him to take tough shots and not foul. . . And he made some key shots for us too. Key plays for us. He was a great man.”
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Christie finished with 12 points, her most this year. He scored twice on dunks on cuts to the basket and late in the quarter, he bailed out the team with a tough jumper to end a broken possession.
But it was their defense, primarily on Mitchell, that had the Lakers so excited on Friday.
“Max just wants to win. He plays hard and will take on that challenge against a guy who is an elite scorer at all three levels,” Anthony Davis said. “He made sure he knew his tendencies and took on that challenge, especially at the end of the game, when you know, the whole arena, knows they’re coming at him, especially with Darius Garland out and things like that. So he was the one and he had two big stops for us. There’s not much more you can ask for. For him to only be in his second year and take on that challenge, it shows a lot about him.”
Passing elegant
The Lakers spent a lot of time during training camp hoping that their continuity from last season would help boost their offensive flow and allow the team to play with more ball movement.
Through the first quarter of the season, results have been mixed, with the Lakers’ passing sometimes looking a little slow when the ball got stuck for a flicker too long on the perimeter.
On Friday, however, the Lakers attacked the Cavs in different ways, using dribble penetration to initiate many of their passes, keeping Cleveland moving and unable to target a particular area. The result was tremendous balance, with seven players scoring at least 10 points and an eighth, Taurean Prince, scoring seven. Four different Lakers, including Prince, had at least five assists, and Austin Reaves dished out 10.
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The Lakers’ 34 assists as a team were the second most this season. Last week against Houston, the Lakers had 35 assists.
“I just share the ball: if you don’t get a chance, pass it to the next guy and he gets a chance or passes it to the next guy. Just playing stress-free and letting the ball dictate the type of shot we make instead of guys being selfish or trying to find their own style,” Davis said. “Obviously, you’ll have that during the course of the game if a player is hot or has an advantage, but for the most part, ball and body movement is something we preach.”
Reaves said the assists were proof the Lakers were playing their preferred style: “the right way.”
“Any time you can increase that number of assists, it means you’re playing the game the right way. You’re making an extra pass, playing unselfishly and that’s the goal,” Reaves said. “When you do that, everyone feels good and everyone has touched the ball and when they throw it their way, they feel safe with it in their hands. “That’s the main thing for us as a unit: to play the game the right way and get those assist numbers up.”
AD A-plus
After a quiet second half in a tight loss to Dallas on Wednesday, Davis scored 15 points in the third and eight in the fourth on Saturday, dominating against Cleveland’s massive frontcourt.
“Everyone rushes to assassinate AD when they have a free night. I think if you look back at his bad nights, he’s somehow affecting the game more than the average human realizes,” Reaves said. “These go up [box score], look and see how many points he had and go right to their phones and start tweeting things and criticizing him for not having 25 or 30. But he affects the game in so many ways that on his bad nights, he’s still very productive for us. . Any time he plays like that, I think we’ll be pretty tough to beat. “It’s super efficient.”
Davis will have another big matchup on Sunday against reigning MVP Joel Embiid as the Lakers will try to keep him involved as much as he was on Friday.
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“He sets up 95% of our pick-and-rolls and when he has a chance to catch it in the pocket, or if the bigs are up and that allows us to find him in transition and he has a chance to seal it or whatever, we have “We have to find it,” James said. “I mean, it’s that simple. And there are also times where we have certain game decisions that we can execute on the fly to be able to give him the ball as well. But even if he’s not throwing, it’s just him touching the ball. And I think from the beginning of the game, I think right after my and one, when we had a chance to tie our first set, I think he touched the ball and throughout the game he continued to touch the ball.
“And that’s a great moment for our ballclub.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
