If the devil is in the details, then the Lakers have been dancing with Lucifer all year long.
Sure, they have a good record and a handful of quality wins over teams like the Sixers, Wolves and Spurs. But,
in defeat, they’ve had the same issues come up.
Los Angeles struggles defensively, rebounds are a problem and close games quickly become blowouts. This is exactly what happened against the Spurs. The Lakers allowed 132 points, were outrebounded 50-43, trailed by as much as 24 and never led in the second half.
After the loss to San Antonio, head coach JJ Redick broke down the flaws his team has.
“There’s things that help you win on the margins we’re just not very good at right now, Redick said. “We got to ask a little bit more of everybody. We don’t crash. We can’t force a lot of turnovers. We did a terrible job at the end of the first quarter and the second quarter, end of quarter stuff. So that immediately, we’re behind the eight ball there. If a team shoots well, we’re going to be really in trouble.”
Against the Spurs, Redick’s words were certainly true. LA’s end-of-quarter execution was bad. In the opening quarter, the Lakers were down by just two points with a little over a minute to go. Then, they allowed San Antonio to hit three consecutive 3-pointers. Suddenly, they were down by nine after 12 minutes of play.
The Spurs shot incredibly well, connecting on 45% of their shots from deep and, minus a brief moment in the fourth when the Lakers went small, San Antonio controlled the game.
As Redick mentioned, this isn’t a one-off scenario, but a trend in all of their losses.
The Lakers struggle with forcing turnovers. Opponents commit 14.8 turnovers per game against the Lakers, ranking LA a middle-of-the-pack team. Opponents also shoot well against Los Angeles, connecting on 38.2% of shots from 3-point range, the fourth-highest in the NBA.
This might seem like too much basketball minutiae, but it’s why, despite the Lakers having a good record, many don’t feel great about where the team is at.
If the Lakers can clean up these things, they’ll be a better team, and they won’t get run out of the gym every time they play a young, athletic squad.
So far, they haven’t proven they can consistently do that.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
