It’s no secret that the Lakers are a bad defensive team.
They have a defensive rating of 116.7, which is 21st in the NBA. Every team with a defensive rating worse than the Lakers has a losing record. In their loss against the Spurs in the NBA Cup quarterfinal, this flaw was as loud as ever.
Los Angeles was unable to slow San Antonio down at any point in the contest. The Spurs scored 132 points, shot 45% from 3-point range and led by double figures for most of the game.
After the game, LeBron James talked
about what it’s going to take for LA to improve on the defensive end.
“I mean five guys being on the string,” LeBron said. “Obviously, you can’t do it individually by yourself. It has to be five guys on the string. Communication always at an all-time high, letting you know what’s going on behind you and things of that nature. Obviously, [the Spurs are] a unique team. They have six or seven guys that can literally break you down off the dribble. Super fast, super quick. Some of them are stronger, some of them are faster, some of them are quicker ball handlers. So unique team and they definitely got the best of us.”
The Spurs continuously pushed the pace on the Lakers, and they couldn’t keep up. Stephon Castle drove into the paint with ease and ended the night with 30 points. Once the Spurs applied pressure on the rim, they were able to drive inside, kick the ball out, and put the Lakers in the blender, while LA frantically tried and failed to get stops.
San Antonio continued to get great looks from deep and knocked them down. Keldon Johnson went 3-5 from beyond the arc, scoring 17 points. Julian Champagnie went 2-4 from 3-point range, part of a 16-point performance for the forward.
This problem isn’t going away for the Lakers either. They are near full health and still a bad defensive team. If they want to be better, that improvement will have to come from within.
“We’re going to have to look at ourselves,” Austin Reaves said. “We’re going to have to really sit down with ourselves and figure that out. Whatever it takes. This is a league where, unfortunately, those things can happen. Everybody’s good and everybody’s working on their game and everybody wants to win, especially playing against us.
“Anytime you come in here and play against the Lakers, we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. So, we really gotta look ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we want to do, if we’re going to lay down and get punked or we’re gonna fight back and I’m not the one to lay down and get punked. Hopefully, we can find a way to fight back.”
It’s hard to see how the Lakers can get significantly better defensively. Perhaps now with Marcus Smart back, they can optimize his minutes and bend, but not break so much as a defensive unit.
If they don’t address this, it won’t be long before this becomes the new normal and their poor defense will begin to be more reflected in the win-loss column, just like it was on Wednesday night.
The Lakers are saying the right things about their flaws. Now, let’s see if their actions reflect a desire to be better.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
