Three Things to Know: Lakers at Warriors 1-27-24
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The Lakers (23-23) begin their six-game road trip in San Francisco with a matchup against their division and conference rivals, the Golden State Warriors (19-23) on Saturday evening. The game tips at 5:30 p.m. on ABC.
Below are three things to know ahead of the matchup.
ROAD TRIPPIN’
Starting with Saturday’s game in the Bay Area, the Lakers embark on their longest road trip of the season — a six-game venture that will span 10 days on the road. The trip features just one back-to-back (Monday vs. Rockets, Tuesday vs. Hawks), but begins with three games in four nights before settling in with an every-other-night schedule.
The trip will send them zagging them across the country, through the south, to the east coast, and then back down the seaboard before landing them back home in Los Angeles. In its entirety, that’s over 7,000 miles of travel that will test the team both off the court in terms of being away for that long, but also on the hardwood vs. teams that would love to curb any momentum the team is trying to generate.
Below is a layout of their foes:
- at Warriors
- at Rockets
- at Atlanta
- at Celtics
- at Knicks
- at Hornets
For the Lakers, however, this slate also represents a chance to show their mettle and do so against a slate of opponents who, overall, have not had the best seasons to date. Only the Knicks and Celtics are currently above .500 on the season, and the six teams’ total combined records are a 131 wins to 133 losses.
The Lakers have not been a strong road team this season, tallying just a 6-15 record in their 21 games so far. But if they want to make headway in the standings and a push to gain some momentum before the All-Star break in February, that will need to change — starting with this trip.
VANDO MAKING AN IMPACT
Jarred Vanderbilt has not had the smoothest season so far, missing the team’s first 20 regular season games with bursitis in his left heel, and then dealing with a minutes restriction and generally trying to get healthy and back into game shape on the fly when he did return.
As is expected, it has taken a little time for Vanderbilt to work through the lingering effects of his injury and to fully ramp up, but he’s come on of late and has begun to resemble the player he’s been his entire career — the rangy and athletic defensive wing who pressures at the point of attack and jumps passing lanes, while also helping on the backboards and protects the basket.
He’s blocking more shots, getting more deflections, and generally wreaking more havoc on and off the ball defensively in the last two weeks. In three of his last six games he’s tallied three steals, several of the “pick-six” variety where he’s jumped a passing lane to intercept a pass and take the ball the other way for a basket.
Offensively Vanderbilt has also began to settle into a defined roll, finding the gaps in the defense as a cutter, screener and roller, as a spot up option in the weakside corner, and as a driver when the defense sags off him daring him to shoot. And with this more assertive style, he’s seen his production rise.
After not scoring in double figures at all in his first 21 games of the season, Vando has crossed that threshold three times in the past four games, including a Lakers career-high 17-point effort in Thursday’s win over the Bulls.
If Vando can continue to be a scoring threat within the context of the team’s offense, especially in lineups that feature LeBron and Anthony Davis, the case for his role to expand only grows as well.
BIGGER THAN BASKETBALL
At four games under .500 42 games into their season, the Warriors have not had the year they’d like — or were projected — to have. Injuries, suspensions, and a reshuffling of lineups in the hopes of finding the right combinations that could find traction have been a common theme, depressing what was supposed to be a promising campaign.
Off the court, however, the Warriors have also had to deal with real tragedy and are just coming out of the other side of the type of loss that goes beyond the game. On January 17th, their assistant coach Dejan Milojević suddenly and tragically passed away after suffering a heart attack at a team dinner the night before. Milojević was just 46 years old, and in the aftermath of his passing the team mourned his loss while postponing two contests they were slated to play in the days immediately after the tragedy.
The Warriors have since returned to the court, celebrating the life of their fallen coach with a heartfelt remembrance with his family in attendance, before defeating the Hawks in their first game back this past Wednesday. A night later they hosted the Kings and lost a gut-punch of a game by a single point.
The games, of course, go on. And the Warriors, though they are not where they’d like to be for their season, should not be counted out with so many contests left to play. But, whatever run they do or do not make will be made with a heavy heart as they continue to mourn the loss of their coach and member of their basketball family.