Austin Reaves explains how this year’s Lakers are different than previous teams

Following a big road win against the Blazers, Austin Reaves broke down why this season’s Lakers are different than past purple and gold teams.

There were many reasons the Lakers’ win over the Blazers on Thursday was impressive. On top of it being on the road on the second night of a back-to-back, it came in against a Blazers team that has had a lot of success at home this season.

More than that, though, it was a Portland side that is young, energetic and plays hard. That alone has, typically, been a recipe for struggles for LA. However, they matched the intensity the Blazers played with on Thursday and responded in kind, leading to a tough win.

After the game, a very honest Austin Reaves talked about the win and how this year’s team is different than previous versions.

“I think in the past, especially my first two years and maybe a little bit my third year, little bit last year, I don’t know that we would have won this game,” Reaves said. “I think in the past, young, athletic teams have played really, really hard. You obviously have to match their physicality and pace and you have to stay poised through it all. I feel like this year, we’ve done a really good job of matching that intensity and also playing with IQ as well.

“I think that’s a major leap from what we’ve done in the past.”

One of my pet peeves in recent years has been veterans coming to the postgame presser and noting how, because they’re the Lakers, teams play harder against them and phrase it in a way as if there was nothing they could do about it.

Part of the problem is many of those teams were veteran players who didn’t have as much left in the tank to match that intensity in a mid-February game. The other part of that is the general approach the team had for those games, something that came from the top down.

While he phrased it in a very joking manner about finding the cheat code for winning, head coach JJ Redick made a similar point after the win. He spoke about how playing hard is how teams can compete night-to-night.

Of all the traits Redick has brought to the Lakers, that one is the most welcome, at least personally. Seeing a Lakers team play hard night in and night out over the latter half of this schedule has been such a nice change.

It wasn’t a trait they had the beginning of the year. In fact, they lost a pair of games to the Pistons — which Redick also mentioned postgame — because they didn’t play as hard. But those days appear to be in the past and, hopefully, for good.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.