Lakers on Fire! Riding a 5-Game Streak into NBA Cup Clash with the Jazz

Less than two weeks ago, with the Lakers coming off a 1-4 road trip that left them with a 4-4 record early in the season, Lakers coach JJ Redick said his team’s struggles helped fortify feelings he already had about himself.

“It reinforced to me that I am a masochist,” Redick said of the Lakers’ home win against the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 8. “And by that, I mean I actually am more excited right now that we’ve had some struggles. I’ve mentioned growth opportunity, like this is what it’s about,

“This is what it’s about. This is why I wanted to coach. Not so we could have strawberries and ice cream every day. Anybody can do that. This is why I wanted to coach.”

Despite ups and downs with player availability, the Lakers have been experiencing the sweeter side of things lately.

They enter Tuesday night’s home game against the Utah Jazz (3-10), which kicks off a three-game homestand, with a 9-4 record amid a five-game winning streak that started with the aforementioned victory over the 76ers.

“It just shows the process of orientation we have,” fourth-year guard Austin Reaves said after Monday’s practice. “Nobody panicked through that whole thing. We just didn’t play good basketball.

“We didn’t make shots. We didn’t guard. Our transition [defense] was trash. And nobody throughout that whole time was freaked out and really concerned if we could fix those things. We just went back to the drawing board, showed it and got better at it and continued to try to get better.”

Acknowledging the small sample of games, the Lakers have had the league’s best offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) of 122.6 during their five-game winning streak.

And their transition defense, which was among the NBA’s worst through their first eight games, has improved to average over the last 1½ weeks – a significant development aided by their offense rolling the way it has.

Tuesday’s matchup is also an NBA Cup Group Play game, with the Lakers being undefeated in tournament play dating to last season when they won the inaugural In-Season Tournament.

The Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night for their first tournament victory this season before beating the New Orleans Pelicans the next night for back-to-back road wins.

Redick said starting forward Rui Hachimura, who missed those road victories because of a sprained right ankle, didn’t practice on Monday and will be listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game. Redick added that Hachimura is “making a lot of progress” and the team is hoping he’ll be available at some point this week.

The Lakers also host the Orlando Magic on Thursday and the Denver Nuggets on Saturday as part of the homestand.

Starting wing Cam Reddish, who missed the win against the Pelicans because of a right peroneal strain – irritation or inflammation in the tendons that run along the outside of the ankle and foot