The pair of D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves were near the center of the court during the Lakers’ bid to make it to the playoffs during the previous season. Despite the short amount of time they spent together, the two players shown their offensive variety and succeeded right from the start.

The two players were only able to remain in the starting lineup for a relatively little period of time at the beginning of this season for a number of reasons. The two players haven’t played together very often this season, despite the fact that there has been a lot of reorganization of the lineup.

On Saturday, Russell and Reaves began working together for the first time since November 8th. This was a significant occurrence. Russell exploded for a season-high 39 points and eight assists, while Reaves was an efficient 7-8 from the field for 19 points of his own. Whether it was a coincidence or not, they fit together perfectly the second time around.

Despite the fact that they had a strong performance, they did not end up with a victory. However, this is not entirely attributable to those two individuals, and it is, in fact, attributable to Anthony Davis, at least according to his own admission. Russell’s response was quite clear when he was asked about their chemistry after the game occurred.

“In the short time that we have been working together, we have gained a great deal of credibility,” D’Lo stated. Put us out there, and it will be successful.

After the game, Reaves appreciated the outstanding performance of his teammate, even if he also expressed his sadness in the outcome of the game.

“Yeah, I mean he had forty, or forty-nine if you want to be more specific, but we lost, and I’m sure he’ll say the same thing,” Reaves remarked. It’s a pleasure to be on the court with him, and it’s best to give up points for victories. This is something that he has been doing for quite some time, and his expertise is pretty distinctive in terms of how he does it and what he does on the court. He is an extremely skilled player. In light of this, it is a privilege to share the court with him. However, as I mentioned earlier, we were down, and I believe he would agree with me.

At the beginning of the season, there were a few arguments that might be made in favor of breaking up the pairing. They are never going to be able to give a lot defensively, even when they are at their best. In addition, Reaves found himself in a significant offensive rut to begin this year when the year began.

During this season, Reaves has found life to be…rough on the defensive side. When it comes to attacking Reaves, the opposing teams have unquestionably discovered something on that end of the court. In addition, D’Lo has said that he is not the type of person who is capable of obtaining defensive stops.

That being said, if things weren’t working out for them offensively or defensively, it was probably a good idea to make a change. The fact that you have not returned to it until now is another poor decision.

They had only played together for a total of 446 minutes prior to Saturday’s game, and their net rating was -5.2. This is in contrast to the 378 minutes that they had played together throughout the playoffs alone the previous year. As a further demonstration of the point made above, they have performed worse on both sides of the ball this year compared to the previous season.

On the other hand, the offensive of the Lakers has been, at best, rather ordinary throughout this season. According to Cleaning The Glass, they are currently ranked 23rd in the league in terms of total offensive rating and 14th in terms of halfcourt offense. Both of these statistics were obtained after the game that took place on Saturday.

Reintroducing two of your most effective offensive weapons into the lineup at the same time seems like a decision that is easy to make. It is going to have negative consequences from a defensive standpoint, but the Lakers are in a position where they need to make a change and take a risk in order to move forward. The actions that they are doing are not producing the desired results, and it seems as though returning to the strategies that were successful the previous year could be the best course of action.

Nothing that the Lakers have done this year has been successful, but it hasn’t worked at all throughout the season. In the hopes of gaining some momentum, you should ride the hot hand that you acquired on Saturday.