Lakers News: Max Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino Shine For LA In Second Summer League Game

Much better showing for the LakeShow!
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The Lakers continued their summer league schedule on Wednesday as they took on the San Antonio Spurs. It was a much better performance for LA than they had in their first game in the California Classic. But LA did drop the game to the Spurs by a score of 109-99.

As always with summer league, you have to temper your expectations but the unit looked more polished. I’m sure having more time to both practice and play together helped them look more like a team. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the second game for the Lakers and they are some familiar names for Laker fans:

Jalen Hood Schifino: He looked very under control running the offense. His jump-shot is still a work in progress but he has showed a strong ability to get to the rim. He also has shown good defensive instincts, fighting around screens and defenders. Hood-Schifino looked calmer out there for his second game with the purple and gold and he should be able to keep growing his game here. He dropped 20 points, three rebounds and four assists.

Colin Castleton: Castleton continues to impress and show why the Lakers signed him to a two-way deal. He has a soft touch around the basket on offense and has shown good instincts on tracking the ball for rebounds. But where he really shined in this game was on the defensive side of the ball. He was blocking everything in sight and made life tough for the Spurs on the inside, finishing with four blocks. If he keeps this up, he could be an option for LA as a deep bench player. Castleton ended the game with 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists. 

Max Christie: In just two games, I’ve seen enough from Christie. He looks like he has grown his game immensely from last season. Christie seems more aggressive with the ball in his hands which is exactly what the Lakers want. This is leading to him getting to the free throw line for easy points. He also is shooting the ball much better from deep and is get starting to make his fadeaway jump shots. Christie seems like a solid option to make the Lakers rotation if he keeps this up. He finished the game with 25 points, four rebounds and four assists. 

Look ahead to the next game:

-I’d like to see more minutes for forward Alex Fudge from Florida. In the limited time that he saw today, he looked good. He is very athletic and was active on defense.

-We need to see a more rounded game from Cole Swider. Swider started out the game hot, hitting multiple three pointers but he just stopped being aggressive. His issue has always been him not showing more than being a shooter and he did a little of that today. It would be nice to see more of that from him next time out.

-Maxwell Lewis was disappointing in this one as he got minutes today. He showed some nice defensive qualities but struggled offensively and turned the ball over a few times. In 22 minutes, he did not score. 

The Lakers summer league team can learn from this game and take the lessons with them into their next game Friday against Golden State.

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Matt Levine
MATT LEVINE

Matt earned a Master of Science degree in Sport Management from Louisiana State University in 2021. He was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, covering all Southern California sports in his career.