Lakers Stands Tall With 4-3; Is The Team Feeling Overconfident After Winning Against Golden State Warriors Even Without Kobe Bryant?

It is somehow expected that the Lakers would be absolutely terrible this season. They are supposed to miss the playoffs for a fourth straight year, and fan interest should be declining now that they are competing without the draw of superstar guard Kobe Bryant.

Moreover, when the Lakers were preparing for a game against the Hawks in Atlanta, their coaches came across an article that noted the Hawks were in a "soft" part of their schedule. The staff showed it to the players and relayed the message that this was not who the Lakers were, they were not a soft team or an easy out. However, La Times said that whether they liked it or not, this was how the sports world viewed them.

"We see all the news clippings, reports saying we were gonna finish last in the league and all that," Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson said at practice Monday. "We kind of take it a little personal. A clip before we played the Atlanta Hawks talking about they'll stay on their soft schedule, got the Lakers coming in. We kind of take offense to that. We're taking all that personal. We're out there trying to prove people wrong."

For the previous week, the Lakers have been doing just that. On Sunday, they defeated the Phoenix Suns to improve to 4-3-, their first winning record after several games since the fall of 2013. It had been even longer since the Lakers had won three consecutive home games, as they did against the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and the Suns.

With their game against the Golden State Warriors, Lakers showed up full of confidence like that of David vs. Goliath matchups. They routed Golden State by 20 points in a game that they never trailed in, resulting in a performance that won't soon be forgotten, Lakers Nation said.

Now, the Lakers must guard against overconfidence, and the errors that come with that. Even Coach Luke Walton said that the scary thing would be that they stop doing the little things that got them those wins. He noted that it's hard to be overconfident because the team might stop playing and competing as hard. However, they ensured that they are "going to do our best to keep pointing those out and keep trying to grow as a team."