The LA Lakers are feeling very confident in their first-round series, and perhaps no Laker is more pumped up than Deandre Ayton. The same big man who gave himself the nickname “DominAyton” is now claiming that he has something up his sleeve for the Houston Rockets, who are down 0-2 in the series.
Speaking to reporters at the Lakers’ practice session on Thursday, Ayton said that he was ready to unleash his versatility on the defensive end.
“I’m about to show the world I can guard 1 through 5…I thought it was going to be a secret weapon, but I’ve been practicing it and having multiple reps guarding the best players in the league on isolations. And the confidence is way up there.”
Some fans, however, were not impressed with Deandre Ayton’s proclamation.
“Ayton setting himself up for a choke”
“They gonna put this video over him getting crossed into oblivion aren’t they”
“This ain’t space jam dawg, don’t save a «secret weapon»”
“Sheesh he is so dumb”
“Bro catch the ball and be strong with it on offense please”
“Lmao man hell naw”
Though the Lakers have a comfortable series lead at this point, Ayton has been outperformed by Alperen Sengun in the post on multiple occasions. The 7-foot Bahamian center will have to stand his ground in the paint if the Lakers are to continue disrupting the Rockets’ rhythm in Games 3 and 4.
“The Group Out There Was Winning”: JJ Redick Explains Reasoning Behind Deandre Ayton Benching in Closing Moments of Game 2
If there’s another area that Deandre Ayton will have to focus on, it’s endgame execution. In the closing moments of Game 2, it was Jaxson Hayes and not Ayton manning the paint for the Lakers.
On Thursday, Redick told reporters what went into this decision.
“DA and I had a conversation today, it was, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong, that’s not the reason you didn’t finish the game. It’s just the group out there was winning.'”
It appears, then, that Ayton will have to work harder to gain Redick’s trust so that he can see minutes on the floor in crunchtime.
