Lakers climb two spots in The Athletic’s latest NBA power ranking
The Los Angeles Lakers got out of a rough losing streak and notched a four-game win streak before losing it to the Memphis Grizzlies Sunday.
But this past week specifically, the Lakers defeated the Sacramento Kings in a close contest and knocked off the Atlanta Hawks by double-digits before losing to Memphis.
READ: Rookie Wire’s latest power rankings as Memphis storms league
The 2-1 record in the week saw the Lakers increase in a new power ranking done by Zach Harper of The Athletic:
Considering Anthony Davis has only played in five games since the start of December, maybe the Los Angeles Lakers being .500 during these 18 games is actually a positive sign. They got waxed by Memphis on Sunday, but they’ve been playing better basketball as of late. LeBron James is putting up big points as the de facto center, and sometimes, those points lead to wins. Other times, it just makes things look a bit more palatable to see him looking good on the court.
Russell Westbrook has been pretty reliable as well, and Malik Monk is starting to really get recognition for his play. The Lakers just need defensive consistency, and I don’t think that happens without a healthy AD. He’s on the way back, but it’s not reasonable to expect him to fix the defense right away.
This week is a quiet one. The Lakers play just two games: one on Wednesday against the Kings for the final time during the regular season and one on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets.
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NBA Twitter reacts to Lakers' double-digit win vs. Hawks
