Lakers guard showered with praise for raising team’s defensive energy

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For Matisse Thybulle, one of the “coolest” things about this current Lakers team has been having “so many defensive-minded players”. 

The types of players who’ll stack a hustle play on top of another play, creating an advantage and energy for the team as a whole. 

That’s how the veteran wing saw things play out during the Lakers’ win over the Clippers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

And he credited Collin Sexton, who made his Lakers debut during the victory, with providing the team with that jolt. 

“I felt like it immediately,” Thybulle said. “He just invigorated the game with more energy.”

Sexton’s first minutes of the season after sitting out the preseason and the regular-season opening win over the Warriors on Wednesday came when he subbed in for Austin Reaves with 3:52 left in the first quarter.

Eleven seconds later, the veteran guard stripped Clippers guard Darius Garland of the ball during his drive into the paint, leading to a steal for the Lakers after Luka Doncic dove on the floor to corral the ball.

“He’s a pest,” Reaves said. “He feeds off the energy, he loves doing the little things and plays the game the right way. He’ll have a big impact [on] what we’re trying to do.”

The former Alabama guard carried that energy into the second quarter.

“He has a really intense way about him that I think will be really good for our group and guys will feed off that,” coach JJ Redick said.

With the Lakers down 44-38 early in the quarter, his perimeter defensive pressure against Kris Dunn forced the Clippers to eat up 10 seconds of the shot clock before Dunn passed the ball to rookie guard Keaton Wagler.

Wagler tried forcing a pass to Brook Lopez on the low block while Ziaire Williams was in front of him, but the ball floated over the 7-foot-1 center’s head and Reaves grabbed the steal.

But the errant Clippers’ possession started with Sexton hounding Dunn even though he didn’t get credited in the box score for the play.

In addition to his three steals, the 6-foot-3 guard also had five points and two assists in 16 minutes.

“Ziaire and I talk about it a lot: That’s what we try to do for them,” Thybulle said. “Even as people who try to do that, to see someone else doing it, it gives us even more energy. It’s just one of those things that when everyone else is doing it, you don’t want to be the guy to not be. It’s almost like when you’re working out in practice and like everyone’s making shots in a row, you don’t want to be the one to miss it and mess it up. Defensively, you can have a similar thing, which is effort and energy.”

Sexton brought an abundance of both in the Lakers’ second win of the season.

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