How do you assess how a team is performing during the middle of the season?<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s no perfect way to review short-term results and extrapolate their meaning in the long term, Lakers head coach JJ Redick has been happy with how his team has been playing over the past six games, even if the team hasn\u2019t won all those contests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had so many of these games this season,\u201d Redick said. \u201cIt almost feels normal. I\u2019ll coach that level of spirit and toughness and fight and togetherness and connectiveness, all that stuff. It was fantastic. We did a lot of really good things.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrankly, the last six games outside of maybe a quarter-and-a-half against Detroit have been really good and they\u2019ve all been shorthanded. This is how we\u2019re going to have to win and this is how we\u2019re going to have to compete to be in games right now. That\u2019s just the reality. The group has embraced that. I\u2019ll go to battle with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lakers have gone 4-2 over this six-game stretch. Despite playing without multiple starters in each game, they\u2019ve found a way to keep stacking wins and find themselves as the No. 4 in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n
Oh yeah, they also have a guy in Luka Don\u010di\u0107 who is pretty good, and that helps. Luka is leading the NBA in scoring, and as he continues to grow as a leader, the team is moving at his competitive pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process has been great, I think, since Christmas,\u201d Luka said postgame. \u201cOutside of Detroit a little bit, I think we\u2019ve been better. We\u2019re working on ourselves and we\u2019re getting better every game.\u201d<\/p>\n