Darvin Ham says Lakers will work on ‘new wrinkles’ in practice during upcoming off days

With a couple days between games, the Lakers will look at the tape and tighten up as they enter the final leg of the regular season.

A game against the lowly Hawks was just what the Lakers needed. They cruised to victory, beating Atlanta on Monday 136-105.

The win, along with the Warriors' loss to the Knicks, meant that L.A. was back in ninth place in the Western Conference standings with 13 games left and a rare three days off before their next matchup versus the Sixers on Friday.

How will the Lakers use this gift of time?

"Tomorrow we'll be off," Ham said after Monday's win. "A lot of guys put in a lot of good work over the course of the last few days, so we'll give them (the day) off. And then come back Wednesday with a sharp focus to get better and work on ourselves. That's been the biggest key. We'll get a chance to tighten up some things offensively, tighten up some things defensively. Couple new wrinkles we want to do on both sides of the ball we'll get a chance to look at and then watch a little film and see how we can be the best versions of ourselves.

“But just take it one day at a time, starting with the day off, everyone getting off their feet, spending time with their families, getting away from it a little bit. But then once we strike back up on Wednesday, knowing that we have to be better no matter what's happening around the league or around the (playoff) positioning with our team. If we don't try to be the best version of ourselves and take care of our own business, nothing else will matter."

Rest is needed and rarely possible this late into the season, so getting even 24 hours to step away is actually a positive and not counterintuitive to winning games.

It will be interesting to see what 'couple new wrinkles' Ham will want to implement on either side of the ball. This deep into the year, how much experimentation or implementation is even possible?

It's just a theory, but I'm guessing it could just be tightening mental errors and perhaps situational work on inbounds plays and crunch time scenarios so the team is on the same page if those situations come up this March and beyond.

In any event, Ham is correct. They just need to focus on themselves. They can't hope teams fall off a cliff or other anomalies occur to put them in a good place.

They need to improve and win games to be ready for a postseason run. Monday may have been against a weaker team, but it did demonstrate a template for success.

You had the Lakers holding the Hawks to 22% shooting from three. They outrebounded Atlanta 48-42 and dominated points in the paint 68-58. More of that and this team will go far and maximize its potential.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.