Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Now that the Los Angeles Lakers have fulfilled fallen star Kobe Bryant‘s prophecy that they would make the playoffs, point guard Steve Blake will need to continue the aggressive style of play he has over the past few games. If he does, the Lakers chances of sneaking past of San Antonio Spurs increase significantly.
Blake has been an integral part of the Lakers run to overtake the Utah Jazz as the final Western Conference team to qualify for the playoffs, especially with starter Steve Nash sidelined with injuries. Over the past nine games Blake is averaging 12.9 points, 3.7 assists and a surprising 4.9 rebounds per game, while shooting .435 from three-point range. And it’s not as if Blake is just shooting a couple threes a game; he’s attempting an average of 6.9 from long range and making three of them a game over that span.
Not only has Blake stepped up as a starter with Nash injured, he has even taken on more of a scorer’s mentality since Bryant went down. Blake has scored over 20 points in each of the last two games with Bryant out, registering 23 against the Spurs a week ago and 24 against the Houston Rockets in the season finale that landed the Lakers in the seventh seed.
The Lakers will rely heavily on Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard as the focus of the offense, but Blake will need to continue pulling the trigger to give the Lakers’ bigs a reliable outlet on the perimeter. If Blake can produce anywhere from 12-15+ points a game, the Lakers should be able to pull of the upset and continue to salvage a tumultuous 2012-2013 season.
