Lakers looking to step up defense
The Lakers might have had an uptick in offensive production over the last month, but it hasn’t changed their goals of being a defense-first team.
After having a bottom-10 offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) for most of the season, the Lakers have found their groove after the last month.
They entered Tuesday’s home game vs. the Detroit Pistons with an offensive rating of 119.1 over their last 15 games — the league’s sixth-best mark during that 9-6 stretch.
They had an offensive rating of 112 — 24th in the 30team league — through their first 39 games.
“Not turning the ball over,” coach Darvin Ham said about the biggest areas of improvement.
The Lakers had a turnover percentage of 14.1% in their first 39 games (20th in the league) compared to 12% (the league’s fifth-best mark) in the previous 15 games before Tuesday.
“As much offensive talent as we have, when we don’t take care of the ball, we minimize that drastically,” Ham continued. “Our ability to take care of the ball means everything. Great defense usually leads to easy offense. So those two things: getting stops, forcing teams into turnovers and not turning the ball over ourselves.”
The Lakers have also been one of the best teams with setting one another up for scoring opportunities.
They’ve been second in assists per game (30.3) since Jan. 13.
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“It’s a realization that no one man is gonna get it done by themselves,” Ham said. “It’s gonna take a full unit. (LeBron James), (Anthony Davis), they draw a lot of attention consistently. Anywhere from two to four bodies and two directly on them, two more tilting toward them in an area. So just those guys being able to make the right reads, (D’Angelo Russell) being deliberate and decisive, (Austin Reaves) being deliberate and decisive. Now we add Spencer (Dinwiddie) to that.
“Taurean (Prince) being more aggressive off the bench to score. He can do both. He can play good defense and provide us with some offensive output. So guys, what we’ve been showing, you can see it. It’s coming through the film. You’re seeing it live in game action. Just playing the right way and playing for one another.”
But their offensive uptick has coincided with significant defensive slippage. The Lakers’ defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 117.6 over the last month ranks 18th.
Ham made clear that as good as the offense has
THE SCORE
LAKERS 125, PISTONS 111
Up next: Lakers at Jazz, today, 6 p.m., SPSN
The Lakers roll past the Detroit Pistons. For coverage, visit OCREGISTER.COM/SPORTS
been lately, the Lakers will need their defense to be at a higher level to accomplish their goals.
“The totality of it is just trying to find a way to win,” he said. “But in order to sustain success and have the ultimate success in terms of winning big, your defense has to be great. And injuries have played a huge part in that. No Cam (Reddish), no (Jarred Vanderbilt), now Max (Christie). Our perimeter defenders are few and far between. So now the focus shifts to us understanding the scheme that we’re in and everyone being where they’re supposed to be in terms of all five men working hard to get stops possession after possession.
“For the most part, our communication has been great. I know the numbers say otherwise, but we’ve made timely stops. We’ve played some good timely defense and our offense has just skyrocketed. Attacking each offensive possession with pace and force has a lot of offense and the numbers reflected. It’s allowed our offense to flourish. But make no mistake about it: you can’t depend on just outscoring teams night after night after night. And then you get to the postseason, outscoring teams round by round by round. You got to have a stable, high-level defense.”