Lakers hold off Suns 119-108 to move above .500

There is an obvious difference between Walton’s overall positivity with small doses of well-placed criticism and Byron Scott’s heavy-handed complaining in years past. “That’s a great team we played against and to beat them on the glass like that and to have that many assists means we’re playing the right way”.

To quote a line from the 90s seminal ska-punk band Sublime, “you can’t fight against the youth, ’cause we’re strong”, and for the Lakers their youth is well and truly their strength. Check out his shot chart for the season.

“Let’s not let them back in the game”, Walton told his players.

The Lakers went 17-65 last season, and 21-61 in 2014-15. No one knew what they were running. Several Lakers high-fived the fan, who pointed at his forearm in an imitation of Russell’s famed “Ice in My Veins” celebration of big shots. This time, Walton reached out to Warriors coach Steve Kerr about something else.

It gave Luke Walton and his staff a source of pregame motivational material. “We had some mental breakdowns, and they took advantage of it”.

When this meeting happened, the Lakers were 1-3, preparing to play the Hawks in Atlanta. Sure, they wanted to win more.

Los Angeles has made a habit of surprising the Warriors recently, but as Williams put it: “This one was valid”.

“Our guys got a good attitude”, he said.

Walton was Kerr’s assistant during the Warriors’ 2014-15 championship season and again a year ago, when he led Golden State to a 39-4 start while Kerr was recovering from a back injury. The Lakers must do the same.

“I don’t think we competed from the start like we needed to”, Green said.

Curry finished with just 13 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds, while teammate Klay Thompson scored just 10 points – connecting on 4 of 18 from the floor and two of 10 from 3-point range. On Thursday, they earned an emotional win over the Thunder, Kevin Durant’s former team, and playing the second night of a back-to-back on the road is not an ideal situation for an National Basketball Association team.

At the time of writing, the team is averaging 108.8 points per game, good enough for sixth in the league, they are shooting 46 per cent from the field, eighth in the league, and they’re second only to the San Antonio Spurs in free throw percentage. I love the fire and energy Randle plays with.

The tides have certainly turned as third-year guard Jordan Clarkson is off to a hot start. He doesn’t start anymore, but he embraces his bench role.

They also lost by 10 points on December 23, 2014 as the Lakers played with more ball movement while Kobe Bryant sat out with an injury. Russell’s adversary Nick Young has looked competent on both sides of the ball which is something Swaggy P has never done. He’s actually playing defense this season.

Walton tells the players they can’t get too caught up in their winning streak.

The low note of Sunday’s win over Phoenix was the concussion of high-energy forward Larry Nance Jr.

Need proof this is Booker’s and Warren’s team and no longer defined by point guards Bledsoe and Knight? Things like that come with time. I had a bad start a year ago, too.