Lakers: Russell Westbrook Likes This Change He Has Seen in the Team Lately

Not a whole lot has gone well for the Lakers this season, but Russell Westbrook has noticed a big difference since the trade deadline.

The trade deadline admittedly brought a little bit of tension to the Lakers this year. With so many things going wrong, fans (and LeBron James) were looking for the team to make moves to improve. They did not. 

But that awkwardness of names being circulated in the trade winds had to be uncomfortable for the Lakers. Frank Vogel even admitted that there was more of a focus and comfort level in the days after the deadline passed. 

One name that was floated all around the NBA was Russell Westbrook. And last week, he pointed out that the Lakers seemed to be playing a little different after the deadline. Russ noted the team's pace and ability to play faster over the last week or so. 

“We’re playing different. A lot more kick-aheads, we’re not playing it slow,” the Lakers point guard said. “The past two games we’ve played a lot faster. Our wings are running and doing a good job of cutting, including myself, just moving the ball and putting people in positions where they can be successful."

That pace resulted in two very good games against the Warriors and Jazz before the All-Star break. And while they only beat Utah, that game against Golden State might have been the best team game they've played in a while. 

“I think we’ve done a better job of that the last two games of just allowing the guys to use our weapons the right way and making sure that we continue to do that for 48 minutes, regardless of what’s going on. To me, obviously the change in how we play and our pace and different things of that nature.”

The Lakers have just a handful of games left to get things clicking. They'll have to do it without Anthony Davis for most of the regular season though, which really complicates things. 

But if they can go into the play-in tournament fully healthy and firing on all cylinders, this team can absolutely make a run. That's a big "if" though.