Lakers Started Stanley Johnson in the Second Half, And It Proved to Be Huge

Good move here from Vogel.

The Lakers got off to a very rough start in the first half against the Magic. They got down early and looked sluggish in their first game of a long road trip. Facing off against the worst team in basketball, Los Angeles struggled to stay within 8 points as the first half came to an end.

But the second half was an entirely different story for the Lakers. They were efficient with the ball and their defense allowed an incredibly low 16 points in the third quarter. Everything appeared to be working for them. 

But one big change by Vogel seems to have made an incredible difference. The Lakers came out in the second half with Stanley Johnson rather than Dwight Howard. He explained why following the win. 

“We didn’t know coming into the game what lineups they were going to put out there with [Wendell] Carter coming back. So we didn’t want to be flipping back and forth throughout the day so we started the same way we were going to start. But ideally, if they’re going to have Bamba as the lone big out there, that was a lineup that we were going to switch everything and try to take away the three from him. And we got a little crossed up with trying to get that match up in the first half, made the adjustment at halftime by starting Stanley and the switching was really good. I thought it stalled out a lot of their action.”

Johnson ended his night with 11 points and sunk 3 of his 4 three-point attempts. He also played superb defense, something that the Lakers have loved him for after signing him to his initial 10-day contract.

But don't expect them to go with this lineup most of the time. The Lakers front office has expressed a desire to go big with their lineups often, and they seem to want Dwight in there with AD out. But this lineup has shown flashes of brilliance.