Last night, your Los Angeles Lakers defeated the 18-9 Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the best teams in the West, 129-120, to end a four-game losing streak in splendid fashion. Before the game on Saturday, Darvin Ham’s starting lineup saw a significant overhaul as LA’s second-year head coach benched starting point guard D’Angelo Russell, elevated veteran power forward Jarred Vanderbilt to a starting position, and started All-NBA selection LeBron James in place of Russell. With this new jumbo-sized lineup, every starter was at least 6’6″. Vanderbilt missed the team’s first 20 games of the season due to left heel inflammation, and while he is still developing as an offensive player, his renowned perimeter defense
As reported by Khobi Price of The Orange County Register, he talked extensively about his efforts to get back into playing shape. “I feel good physically,” Vanderbilt remarked. “I’ve been able to try to get some rhythm and kind of catch a routine of how this year is going to go as far as me physically and my body and maintaining throughout the season because it’s been in a few games now. I believe my body is ready. Ham also discussed the reasoning behind the modification. He clarified, “The offense is a little bit easier when you play great defense.” “I simply wanted to lean toward that side of the ball as a result. We feel like we’ve been struggling in a lot of the first quarters this season.
The 6’8” Kentucky product is shooting 20% of his field goals for just one point on average this season through his nine healthy games, almost like a scoring afterthought. In addition, despite playing only 15.2 minutes per night, he pulls down four rebounds. He played 23:45 in the Thunder game, grabbing six rebounds, blocking one shot, and stealing the ball while only making one field goal on 1-of-4 shooting. On the evening, the 24-year-old recorded a +5 plus-minus. Rui Hachimura, his offensively gifted backup, played a greater percentage of minutes (29:35) and was given more opportunities to score, finishing with 21 points on 8 of 14 field goals. In addition, Hachimura grabbed six rebounds,
