Giving up 132 points in 48 minutes can incite panic. Byron Scott knows this.
Yet rather than make drastic changes to his team after Friday’s 18-point loss in Sacramento, the Lakers head coach plans to keep the team’s philosophy the same.
“I’m not going to panic after two games and all of a sudden change everything we’re doing,” Scott said at practice Saturday. “We just got to do it better. It’s something that we’ve been working on for a little over a month, so we’re gonna stick to it.”
The Lakers have started 0-2 after allowing a comeback against Minnesota and never really challenging Sacramento. After the loss to the Kings, Julius Randle said he planned to “just throw (this one) away.”
But Scott took a different approach.
“You don’t wash it away,” Scott said. “I watched the tape on the plane last night, about a quarter and a half, and then I watched it this morning. … They just looked like they were fatigued for whatever reason. We talked about that this morning; why they were fatigued. And I got a lot of feedback.”
Scott says he plans on making alterations to keep the team fresh, which could include shorter practices. One deviation to the plan could be having Kobe Bryant take over a larger role, but both he and the five-time champion agree that it is better to let the young Lakers — like Randle, D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson — grow through adversity.
Scott expects there to be some “hard lessons” for the young guns, and Bryant admits that it’s difficult to not step in and try to take over the game when the score starts getting lopsided. But he nonetheless plans to continue to rein himself in.
“Can’t do it,” Bryant said after Friday’s loss. “Got to let them develop. It’s difficult, but it has to be done.”
