The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Lakers flustered, frustrated by 3-point shooting woes
MINNEAPOLIS » For all the shots his team missed on Wednesday night, the one that seemed to break Frank Vogel’s spirit wasn’t a miss at all.
In the fourth quarter, Jaylen Nowell got a quick screen from Karl-anthony Towns then pulled up over Wenyen Gabriel. The shot was flat, bouncing off the back iron and at least 10 feet directly upward. But when it came back down from the ricochet, it swished through the net without touching the rim at all.
As Vogel reflected on that stretch — that saw the Minnesota Timberwolves sink three consecutive 3-pointers as they crushed the last bit of hope the Lakers (2940) had to come back — he laughed.
“One bounced up to the ceiling and fell right through,” the Lakers’ coach said. “And we can’t get a bounce.”
The Lakers’ shooting struggles, especially to start games, are starting to feel even to them like cosmic forces are opposing them. In the first quarters of the last three games, they’ve combined to shoot 1 for 33 from 3-point range. In the last two games, it has taken until the second quarter to hit their first 3-pointer.
It’s a head-scratcher. Vogel said the team was just 4 for 23 on open 3-point looks. Lebron James thought there were at least “10 great looks” early in the first quarter as the Lakers gradually kept falling behind their taunting hosts.
The frustrating part for the Lakers is how their long-range shortcomings affect their other offense. Drives by James and Russell Westbrook are less effective when there are three or four defenders planted in the paint waiting for them. James — who seemed as sick over his own 1-for-8 mark
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from behind the arc as his team’s 10-for-45 showing — knows it’s a simple problem, yet one the Lakers recently haven’t been able to overcome.
“Gotta make shots — it’s that obvious,” he said. “Teams are daring us to shoot the ball from outside and we’re not making them.”
Overall, the Lakers aren’t a great 3-point shooting team this season, but they’re not an awful one, either. Their 34.7% mark is 19th in the league, above playoff-bound teams such as Dallas, Boston and Memphis. They’re also 16th in attempts per game (34.8) and 15th in makes (12.2). Malik Monk (39.4%), Carmelo Anthony (38.6%) and Avery Bradley (38.0%) are all hitting respectable averages — even James is shooting 35.7% while averaging eight attempts per game.
But perhaps more to the point, they skew very hot or very cold. They’ve had 23 games in which they’ve shot 40% or above, but 22 games in which they’ve shot 30% or below. Their bell curve seems surprisingly wide, and it’s further complicated by the shifting lineups as Vogel continues to search for hot hands.
On Wednesday, for example, that hot hand was Wayne Ellington, who made the Lakers’ only two 3-pointers of their 21 firsthalf attempts. But Ellington has only played in seven of the last 19 games — he’s hit the rotation recently in a frantic search for offense.
Ellington added that early misses can bog down the group.
“Unfortunately, it’s kind of contagious,” he said. “Once you see a couple of them come out, you’re like, ‘Man, the next one’s got to go in.’ Start pressing a little bit, start feeling that energy.”
That was the only explanation that Vogel could settle on, especially given how the Lakers have made a recent habit of clawing their way back after starting particularly flat from the floor.
“We’re shooting better when we get down than when we’re starting a game,” he said. “So, it’s tough to put your finger on it. It’s tough to speculate why that is. Our guys really want it. We really want to turn it around. We’re putting in the work. There’s a high care factor, so maybe they’re putting too much pressure on themselves to start the game.”