Lakers vs. Trail Blazers takeaways: Cam Reddish feeling good again
The Lakers shut down Cam Reddish for more than a week, hoping the time off would speed up his recovery from a left knee effusion injury. But in the middle of Reddish sitting out the last three games, he also recovered from a left groin injury that had been bothering him at times throughout the season.
After returning in the Lakers' 134-110 win Sunday over the Portland Trail Blazers, Reddish said he felt like his pop was back, his body feeling ready to work again.
“Yeah, it for sure felt like that. I think my knee bothering me helped my groins too,” he said. “I was able to for sure get into the passing lanes a little bit better, get out a run a little bit better. So, overall I felt a lot better. Hopefully my body will keep doing me well.”
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Reddish, who has started 26 games for the Lakers this season, played 21 minutes and four seconds off the bench, finishing with 10 points on five-for-eight shooting, four rebounds and two steals.
“Yeah, it felt real good to be back,” Reddish said. “I mean, it’s been three or four games? I don’t know. But it was fun to be back, man, get up and down with the guys. Happy to be back. “
The Lakers love how the 6-foot-8 Reddish uses his length on defense and how they can use him to defend one-on-one against Portland’s Anfernee Simons or Malcolm Brogdon.
“You know, Cam coming back, putting that pressure on. Tonight, Simons, and you know, Brogdon, he's able to guard at a very high level,” Anthony Davis said. “And then offensively, attacking the basket, shooting the ball. So we definitely miss his presence when he's out."
Reddish plans to be aggressive in his rehab so his body doesn’t betray him again.
“I definitely have to stay on top of it, for sure,” Reddish said. “But it’s just feeling a lot better. I mean, in general, I just feel a lot better, you know what I mean? Just a few days made all the difference. So, hopefully we can keep that going.”
Lakers produce another starting lineup
With an injury to Taurean Prince (left knee soreness), the Lakers were forced to produce another starting lineup against Portland.
This time the lineup was more offensive-minded than the defensive squads Lakers coach Darvin Ham typically prefers. Rui Hachimura started in place of Prince alongside Davis, LeBron James, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell.
Hachimura (nine points) was the only starter not to score in double figures. Russell led the Lakers with 34 points, James had 28, Davis scored 14 and Reaves finished with 15.
“We did an awesome job of communicating, just communicating our activity,” Ham said. “Everybody coming into a play, whether they were on the ball, guarding a screener, just ready to guard and everyone behind that — had a couple mishaps here and there, but for the most part, 90% of the game, we were on point. So it was good to see those five out there together. Rui stepped in and made a huge impact. He was really, really good in his minutes.”
Hot Clippers next for Lakers
When the Lakers were at their lowest point of the season — losing four consecutive games and 10 of 13 contests — they found a way to beat a streaking Clippers team on Jan. 7.
The Clippers are still hot. They've won 24 of their last 31 games heading into their "home" game Tuesday against the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.
“I always say it: [It's] how we want to present ourselves to the other 29 teams, regardless of who we are playing,” Ham said. It's "us establishing an identity on both sides of the ball. Us knowing the type of standard that we need to set in order to be successful. And that involves, obviously, you do your game planning and you do your scouting and seeing what these other teams, specifically the Clippers, our next opponent, are going to try to throw at you.
"But all in all, aside from that, I think the top priority for us is to really come out and start to establish a consistent manner in which we want to play. How we want to defend consistently night in and night out, and how we want to attack offensively and keep those core principles on both sides of the ball intact, regardless of who the opponent is.”
Read more: A season worth saving? The Lakers have to figure it out
The Lakers won their two previous meetings with the Clippers this season. But the Lakers know they will have their hands full against Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden, even with center Ivica Zubac out because of a calf injury.
“Obviously, we know they're a great team, great scorers,” Davis said. “And they just score it well. But pretty good defensively with Kawhi and Paul and Russ [Westbrook] being scrappy and the Zu out. But you know, [Mason] Plumlee and everybody else, Norman [Powell]. So, we do what we did the last game, go back and look at the film, see the ways we can get another win."
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
