The Lakers looking to make a playoff push without James

"Just win baby" is the famous mantra by the late great owner of the Raiders, Al Davis, but it is also the mantra for this Lakers team as they push for a spot in the playoffs. Even without its superstar player, LeBron James, the Lakers have put together some inspiring performances and are winning games.

Led by star forward Anthony Davis who is starting to look like the player he was early in the season when many media pundits had him in the MVP discussion. "He's in a very great place right now," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said after a recent home game. "He has an unwillingness to settle and is staying in attack mode. He's playing pain free and with great rhythm. We also have different pieces around him he can play off at a high level."

It looks like the chemistry is started to jell. "I'm trying to be a little bit more aggressive. Also trying to make the right plays for guys to get to their points because it is going to open the floor for me even more" said Davis of his mentality since the injury to LeBron.

Davis has put up 33.7 points and 11.7 rebounds since James went down. Davis isn't doing it all by himself as the "others" have stepped up during the absence of James. Guys like Austin Reeves, Jarred Vanderbilt, Troy Brown and Dennis Schroder have made plays on both ends of the floor to help the Lakers pick up some much-needed victories.

People seem to forget that the team is also without its starting point guard D'Angelo Russell,

who the team expects to return soon. The team in purple and gold are finding ways to make it happen without the all-time leading scorer in NBA history and it has been a complete team effort on both ends to keep their playoff hopes alive.

 

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