LOS ANGELES- If there has been one criticism of Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton this season, it’s been how he’s handled his playing rotations, especially in fourth quarters. Check Twitter during any close fourth quarter of a Lakers game, and you’ll inevitably see complaints about Walton playing someone too many or too few minutes.
Walton’s actions have shown he likes to play a deep bench, often going with a 10-man rotation, one which usually leaves D’Angelo Russell resting to start the fourth quarter. Several times that’s resulted in Russell returning either very late in the fourth quarter or not at all.