It took a minute for the Lakers to get going, but once they did, Sunday's game at home against the Portland TrailBlazers looked a lot more like fans expected it would, even with LeBron James (foot) joining Austin Reaves and the rest of the limpy Lakers in street clothes. 

In games like this, it's hard to pull lessons that apply for the long term. There are too many players missing, too many weird combinations. All three of LA's two-way players were in long before garbage time, just to provide one example. 

What you want, though, are some of the secondary guys to step up when called upon. The Lakers got the output you'd expect from Anthony Davis (30 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks), but without two of their top three scorers needed more. Enter D'Angelo Russell (28 points, 14 assists) and Rui Hachimura (23 points, 9-13 shooting). The win doesn't solve LA's problems by any stretch, but it does get them into this weird moment in the schedule (thanks to the NBA Cup) where the Lakers will only play two games in 10 days or so. That gives them time to heal—the hope is that LeBron and Reaves won't have to miss much more time, and Jaxson Hayes could inch closer to a return as well—and jsut as importantly, time to practice. 

This is a thin team. It is a flawed team. It is not a team that can afford to get too far from its best principles, applied in the most efficient way. That requires repetition, and it's probably not a coincidence that as the Lakers have gotten further away from training camp and regular practice time with enough healthy bodies to make practice meaningful, the attention to detail that was so strong early has diminished. 

The Lakers can't fix the results of frustrating games, whether the last second loss to Orlando last month, or Friday's frustration fest in Atlanta. They're back in that big clump of teams simultaneously working to stay out of the play-in... and make sure they don't miss the play-in entirely. There are 12 teams that look to be in play for 10 spots. It's going to be brutal going forward, but at 13-11 things could be worse, especially given how many lopsided losses they've suffered. 

But the Lakers aren't where they need to be, even if you're not putting them on the short list of contenders. (And you shouldn't be.) The next 10 days are critical. 

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