Max Christie is focused on doing the little things to help the Lakers win

On this recent Lakers road trip, Max Christie was back in the rotation and did both big and small things to impact winning.

Outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, everyone else on the Lakers has minutes and roles that are subject to change.

During this first month of play, we’ve already seen a change to the starting five and Max Christie is seeing his role go from being the first player off of the bench to playing only in garbage time.

Due to Rui Hachimura missing games due to an ankle sprain, head coach JJ Redick re-inserted Christie into the rotation in the Lakers’ two most recent games and he came up big in both Lakers road wins.

In the first game on Friday in San Antonio, Christie had his best game of the year. His teammates showered him with praise as the young wing logged in 30 minutes and scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting.

He followed up that performance with a much more modest stat line against the Pelicans, scoring two points, grabbing three rebounds, and stealing the ball twice.

However, the stats don’t tell the full story. Max brought a level of defensive ability on the perimeter this team desperately needed with Cam Reddish out.

He also made big plays late, with none more impactful than his tip-out during the game's closing seconds. His extra effort on that possession secured the ball for Los Angeles after LeBron missed and ensured there wouldn’t be any late-game heroics by New Orleans.

The play did not go unnoticed by Redick, who went out of his way to give Christie a shoutout postgame.

“How about Max Christie,” Redick said. “Crash of his life from the corner. He guarded his butt off all night, not a big offensive night and he gets that offensive rebound tip-out to kind of seal the win for us.”

See folks, offensive rebounding matters. It keeps the ball on your side and gives you more looks at the basket while preventing the other team from getting out in transition. This late into the game, it even secured the win.

After the win, Christie broke down the play during his media availability.

“Honestly, as soon as I got to the corner that possession, I said I was going to get a rebound, be in there, be in the mix,” Christie said. “I knew the situation of the game. If I could get the tip-out on a miss, we got the ball with no shot clock left, they have to foul. We make free throws, we win the game. Kind of just an effort play and the determination to go in there and make a winning play for the team.”

Christie, at 6’6, isn’t the smallest player, but he isn't the biggest either. It took toughness and a high level of compete, as JJ Redick would say, to crash the glass like this and beat out his defender, Jaylen Nowell, for the ball.

Improvements in the margins affect the big picture and a tip-out securing a result is a perfect example.

It’s great to see Christie being ready and responding like this after a stint on the bench. If he keeps this up, Redick will gladly use him more and ensure he’s on the floor during clutch time.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.