One of the knocks against the Los Angeles Lakers this season is their lack of wins against quality competition. They’ve been pretty good against bad and mediocre teams, but entering Sunday, they’re just 4-12 against teams that currently have at least a .600 winning percentage.
They improved that record slightly by beating one of the Eastern Conference title contenders, the New York Knicks, by a final score of 110-97. The Lakers won this game by doing something they haven’t done this season – being consistently aggressive and playing effective defense. New York, which ranks third in offensive efficiency, shot 42.7% overall and 23.5% from three-point range, while committing 19 turnovers.
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Sunday’s game is the start of a tough period for the Lakers, who will face the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons over the next 15 days. Many believe that this period will essentially determine the success or failure of the team and whether it has a chance to make the playoffs.
Head coach J.J. Redick said Friday he views this group of games as an opportunity.
Via Lakers Nation:
“The good news for us is we have a lot of chances to win some of these games over the next 10 games or whatever the case may be,” Redick said. “I do think last night’s game was important because it’s a game that we’ve broken down all year, games like that. They scored in double digits and we just kept playing and had a chance with a minute left, a possession game. Again, I believe we’re going to find it. How we find it, that’s what you’ve got to figure out every day.”
Sunday’s win moved Los Angeles to fifth in the Western Conference with a 39-25 record. They are half a game behind the fourth-place Rockets and one game behind the third-place Timberwolves. If they perform well enough through the rest of March, they might have a real shot at jumping into third place in the West, just like they did at the end of last season.
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This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: JJ Redick sees Lakers’ tough upcoming schedule as opportunity