Rui Hachimura Believes Lakers Can Return To Early-Season Form

12/10/2024 03:34 PM

With both LeBron James and Austin Reaves sitting out Sunday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Los Angeles Lakers needed some players to step up and one who did in a big way was Rui Hachimura. The forward scored a season-high 23 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals in a much-needed win.

Hachimura has been up and down this season while also missing a handful of games due to injury. But when the Lakers called on him to step up, he was ready for it.

“We probably did what we didn’t do this whole season, in this game,” Hachimura said after the win. “Literally, it was like a back-to-back-to-back, you know. That’s the trust I got from this team, especially Bron was out today. We found out right before the game. So the coaches told me I had to step up tonight, so I was ready for it. As a team, I think we were moving the ball well. DLo was great. Of course, AD and especially the other guys. Gabe [Vincent], Max [Christie], Cam [Reddish] was really good defensively. That’s how we got this W. So that was great.”

With so many injuries it really had to be a complete team effort and the Lakers gave that on Sunday. The ball was moving, the players were moving and the offense looked more fluid overall, which was a major necessity. The Lakers looked to Hachimura and he delivered, with many of his points coming from his favorite area, the midrange.

“That’s my spot. You guys know, since I was in college, that’s literally my spot,” Hachimura noted. “I can’t say anything else. I’ve been working on. That’s why I got drafted. … I like to play the elbows and it’s easier for me to, there’s a lot of options. I can drive. I can just shoot over, and somebody comes, I can pass through right over.”

Hachimura has a complete skill set, but there just aren’t many players who really operate in the midrange as effectively as he does. But most important on this night was the Lakers getting a victory. Things have been rough over the past couple of weeks, but Hachimura still believes this team can turn it around and get back to playing how they were in the beginning of the year.

“We have a lot of injured guys in and out, and especially today, there were six guys out, actually main rotation guys. So it’s tough,” Hachimura said. “Any games we have different rotation, starters, all that. It is what it is. As a team, I think we can control it, especially like a practice; that’s how we have the base and the core. That’s what is gonna bring it to the real games.

“So I think with this, like, stretch of, away, road games and all that, we didn’t really have to, like, practice, like that, we couldn’t get it. So I think this 10 days, we have 10 days of stretch. We only have two games. So I think we need to rest, but also we need to kind of reset and get back to what we had in our first 10 games. We were really good. We have that, we just, we kind of break that, but I think we can get back easily. So we just got to focus on that."

Getting that rest and recovery time is something that both coaches and players have spoken about lately. The hope is that it will allow for the Lakers to heal up and tighten up some things that need to be tightened. If that happens, the Lakers could look far closer to the early-season version of themselves as Hachimura pointed to.

Lakers coach JJ Redick praises Rui Hachimura & others for stepping up

Rui Hachimura was one of many Lakers players who stepped up and helped the Lakers beat the Trail Blazers despite injuries. And afterwards, head coach JJ Redick praised him and D’Angelo Russell amongst others who came through for the team.

“I thought Rui [Hachimura] in that second quarter was great,” Redick noted. “D'Lo (D'Angelo Russell) just having a big-time game. AD (Anthony Davis) was fantastic. Then defensively for us, I thought a number of guys played really well, Gabe Vincent, Max Christie and Cam [Reddish], it was an overall really good game for our group."

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