In the week leading up to their series against the Rockets, the Lakers repeatedly emphasized the importance of taking care of the ball.
Despite being up 3-1 in the series, there have been very few moments where it’s felt like the Lakers have taken that message to heart. With 80 turnovers in the four contests, no team has given the ball away more than LA this postseason.
While it was an underlying issue in the victories, it moved into the forefront after Sunday’s Game 4 defeat. The Lakers turned the ball
over 23 times, leading to 30 points for the Rockets. While every game is more complex than a single aspect determining the outcome, it’s hard not to point to the giveaways as a big reason LA was unable to complete the sweep.
“We’ll spend a lot of time over the next couple of days just figuring out ways to try to prevent some of those turnovers,” head coach JJ Redick said postgame.
It’s unclear how much relief should come with the Lakers vowing to find a solution when they made it a point of emphasis from the jump and it’s remained an issue. It’s also unclear how much they can realistically change.
At the end of the day, the Lakers personnel is what it is. Their two lead ballhandlers are out and the two guards replacing them are not natural point guards. LeBron James has shown, even dating back to last year, that his handle is not what it used to be either.
That being said, there were also plenty of turnovers the Lakers had on Sunday that weren’t related to ballhandling but a lack of focus.
“Majority of them was mental,” Marcus Smart said of the turnovers. “We were dropping passes, myself included. I was throwing passes to guys’ legs. Normal passes that we make on a regular basis, right? It’s something we have to clean up. We know it. We understand it.
“It’s not going to get easier. We understand that. But we’ve played this team for four games now and the first three, we did very well. We understand it. We just have to continue to stay poised and get through it.”
Perhaps the Lakers winning the early games despite the turnovers led to them turning a blind eye to the problem. I certainly wouldn’t say the Lakers did “very well” about turnovers prior to Game 4. They just did enough in other areas that those didn’t cost them.
This team, as constructed, has a much smaller margin for error due to injuries. When they turn the ball over to the degree they did in Game 4, it takes near-perfection in every other aspect of the game to win. It’s not a viable path to victory.
The return of Austin Reaves could help alleviate some of the woes. At the very least, it gives the Lakers a player who is more comfortable handling the ball than someone like Jake LaRavia or even Smart and Luke Kennard.
But at the end of the day, the Lakers simply just have to be better at taking care of the ball if they want any chance of closing out this series.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
