LOS ANGELES_One day after his first missed game of the season, Luol Deng put together perhaps his best game as a Los Angeles Laker.
His game against the Miami Heat didn't mark his highest scoring output of the season, but showed an increased comfort in the Lakers' offense.
"I'm just getting comfortable with how we're playing and knowing guys' tendencies and knowing where I can be aggressive and whatnot," Deng said. "There's games where I focus on other things besides shooting the ball. There's games like (Friday night) I knew early, I had good looks and wanted to stay aggressive."
Deng scored 19 points and added 14 rebounds with two assists and three turnovers against the Heat on Friday. He sat out Thursday's game in Portland because of right biceps tendinitis, an injury that caused pain in his shoulder and one that started bothering him on Jan. 1 against the Toronto Raptors.
Deng is the highest-paid player on the Lakers roster, having signed a four-year deal worth $72 million this summer. Since he arrived, the Lakers lauded his off-the-court presence in helping to mold their young roster. On the court, though, he struggled to adjust to an offense unlike any other in which he had played.
In late November, Deng began adjusting his playing style, planning to focus less on slashing to the basket, more on his shot. Throughout his career Deng has played better after the first 20 games of the season when playing with a new head coach. It happened each time the Bulls changed head coaches, and also when he signed with Miami in 2014.
"I think as the season goes on I will get better," Deng said in November. "I never really had a challenge that I didn't overcome."
At the time, Deng was shooting only 32.3 percent. He's now making 39.7 percent of his shots and shot 67 percent on Friday.
As Deng improves, he's feeling the team improve too.
"When I agreed to come here, the idea was, this is going to be a process so the main thing is really sticking with it," he said. "Once you start winning you start trusting in the system and trusting in each other. And I think we're heading in that direction. It's not going to happen overnight. There's going to be ups and downs, but I feel like we're improving."
