With Nick Young back in the rotation, the Lakers have gone from a 1-9 record to winning two straight road games over a pair of last year’s playoff teams. Clearly this success isn’t entirely Young’s doing, but his 33 points in 56 minutes during the back-to-back has given the Lakers a much-desired scoring threat.
“He’s been good,” said head coach Byron Scott after the Lakers’ win over Houston Wednesday. “Two straight games that he’s given us exactly what we’ve needed off the bench. (He’s) been able to provide us with scoring. But again, on the defensive end he’s done a good job of one-on-one defense. He got caught tonight not helping one time, but other than that … he’s played very solid for us.”
After leading the Lakers with 17.9 points per game last season, Young added to his repertoire in the offseason by picking up on some of Kobe Bryant’s moves.
“We worked on that stuff a lot last year, worked on it a lot over the summer,” Bryant told Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding. “It has been a big change in his game. In the past, he used to handle the ball a lot, dribbling five or six times. Now you see him catching, one dribble, pull-up shot. Two dribbles, pull-up shot.”