Lakers Confident in chemistry for Luka Donnic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves – Orange County Register

Los Angeles – With his team seeking to create a separation against a team from New Orleans Pelicans who would not easily disappear on Friday evening at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers coach, JJ Redick, relied on the prowess of the collective offensive of his three best players to close the match.

And he did so by doing them all directly involved in the offensive actions to maintain unbalanced Pelicans.

With the Lakers leading the Pélicans 106-95 with 6:30 am to play, Reaves settled a pindown screen for James near the left elbow while Doncic held the ball above the 3-point arc with Jaxson Hayes and Dorian Finney-Smith spaced in the turns.

Instead of adjusting a RAM screen – when a player receives a ball screen before adjusting a ball screen – James covered the Reaves screen in the paint, receiving the Doncic pass and removing the defender Keion Brooks Jr. inside the paint before making a lay -up.

The Lakers have set up a similar alignment with their next possession, but Brooks Jr. overestimated the screen that Reaves was putting James by turning his body in parallel with the basic line between James and Reaves. This gave James an opening to cut in the paint for an easy lay-up with the help of Doncic to mount the 110-97 Lakers.

A minute later, the Lakers returned to the offensive action, but the Pelicans were ready. The Lakers have crossed several options within the action-including Reaves out of an exit screen of Hayes and a transfer from Dribble James-to-Rabes-before Reaves returned the ball to Doncic above the break, with Dononic finding the hole in the defense of the Pelicans.

Hayes has fixed a Surbal screen for Dononic, their two defenders remaining near Donic and the defender of Reaves (Brooks Jr.) peeling in the paint to remove Hayes diving on the edge, leaving Reaves wide open above the 3-point line. Doncic looked at Reaves, acting as if he was going to pass in his direction, temporarily attracting Brooks Jr. closer to Reaves before going to Hayes Grand Open inside the paint for a dunk.

Three possessions of Halfcourt, three scores in the basket, increasing the Lakers’ advance from nine to 13 with just under five minutes in a match, they won 124-108.

“This is how you have to travel a match at the top of nine, six minutes to do,” said Redick. “Just methodical, all exhausting.”

Even if the section came against a team of Pelicans who lost 11 of his 16 previous games, the Lakers were encouraged by the way they saw their three best players operating to each other.

Especially after the recent dialogue around them.

The Lakers entered Friday by losing the Doncic minutes, James and Reaves were on the ground together, being upgraded by 24 points within 320 minutes they played in 16 games.

They were upgraded by 3.5 points for 100 possessions when alignments playing Doncteic, James and Reaves were on the ground together when entering Friday – well below a team that seeks to face a championship when its three best players are on the field.

But Friday was another positive step of the Lakers to understand how to maximize the minutes that Doncic, James and Reaves played.

“Obviously, as we are talking about, it’s always a work in progress,” said Donic. “We did not have many practices together, but I think we are becoming more comfortable, as you saw (Friday). It’s better. “

The Lakers won the 22 minutes that the star trio was on the ground against the Pélicans by two. In 27 minutes during Thursday’s defeat against the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers won the Doncic, James and Reaves minutes were on the ground together by five. They outstripped the 10 -point Houston Rockets in the 23 minutes that the alignments featured the trio were on the field together.

The Lakers won the 72 minutes with their star trio together by 17 points in their last three games – 11.4 points for 100 possessions – after losing the previous 270 minutes by 39 points – being upgraded by 6.7 points for 100 possessions – during their first 14 games together.

“There is a lot of room to grow,” said Redick. “Particularly just with understanding what works for us. This is the greatest thing – what works for us.”

Lakers have an offensive note of 119.6 (points marked for 100 possessions) when Doncic, James and Reaves are on the ground together, which is classified in the 84th centile among all the queues which played at least 100 possessions according to Cleaning the Glass.

But their defense – in particular a defensive note 121.6 – was the reason why they lost the Doncic, James and Reaves minutes are on the ground together.

“I’m not making a ton,” said Redick earlier in the week when he was asked about the team losing the minutes that the Star Trio shared the ground. “I do not think that the expectation, at least internally for us, was that we were going to be the 2016-2017 Warriors or the Thunder of Oklahoma City of this year. We did not expect. So the decraction of a seasonal business is there.

“These guys are determined to make it work with each other when they are on the ground. They are determined to make it work when there are two on the field or that one of them is on the ground. It is a work in progress. We all knew that it was going to be the case.”

Lakers in Oklahoma City

When: 12:30 pm Pt Sunday

Or: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City

TV / Radio: NBA TV, Spectrum Sportsnet / 710 AM

Originally published: April 5, 2025 at 4:40 p.m.