With just under three minutes played on Christmas Day, Rocket’s forward Tari Eason bodies up Luka Dončić in the back court, nudging him just slightly to make his presence felt. The aggressive nature and
culture Houston embodies nets him a hand on the inbound, a steal and a quick slam while Luka lies on the floor, eyes shooting laser beams at the official next to him.
On the surface? It’s a meaningless two points at the beginning of the game. But it sets an all-too-familiar difference in the tone of physicality between LA and their opponent, something the team needs to solve to stay in the top tier of West contenders.
Houston never trailed in the national TV showdown, their lead ballooning to as many as 24, while the disappointed crowd left to enjoy what was left of the holiday.
LA blew out the Sacramento Kings in their next game before a matchup with the No. 1 seed Pistons, another physically imposing team.
“I’m not comparing teams in the sense of who’s better or who’s just as good,” head coach J.J Redick said pregame. “We’ve played a number of teams that have a similar profile. Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston the other night. All do things a little bit differently.”
Those specific teams have won by an average of 20 points in their recent matchups with LA.
Against Detroit, while the Lakers kept it close through three quarters, the more bruising team took over and blew the home team out of their building once again. Detroit put up a dominant 32-18 fourth quarter, with the lead reaching 26 before LA threw up the white flag.
Another blowout loss on the books, dropping the team to 7-8 against teams over .500.
Physicality is a generic term, often accompanying buzzwords like toughness and grit. There isn’t an all-encompassing stat to measure physicality, but teams have used it to their advantage against the Lakers.
The first is directly disrupting the Lakers’ screening game, a vital entry point into the team’s offense with Luka leading the league in pick-and-roll possessions. Teams are meeting him and the Lakers’ creators much higher, not allowing any separation with on-ball screens.
Watch below as Eason meets Luka near half court, giving zero breathing room to the star guard. He attaches himself to his hip. No separation is created and he gets the deflection for a turnover, one of six he had on the night.
Physicality can be seen as an uptick in total pressure.
Watch as Detroit applies it to all parts of the court in the play below. Luka is met at half court once again, while none of the screens create any advantage on the play. Every Pistons player fights to stay in contact with their guy, leading to a side of the backboard three from LeBron James.
Bigger, more athletic teams look to bludgeon the Lakers inside. Against Houston and Detroit, LA was outscored by 46 points in the paint combined.
They use the Lakers’ switching — and at times out-of-sync — defense to attack with their athletic wings in straight-line drives to the basket.
Jared Vanderbilt, one of the team’s top defenders, starts on Amen Thompson in the play shown below. One screen is set on the ball and Thompson gets the matchup he’s hunting with Luka. A straight line drive with no help has him finish one of his 12 field goals on the night.
There’s no easy fix to any of these issues for the Lakers, as the lack of athleticism on the roster likely isn’t changing anytime soon. Creativity, experimentation and more on-court effort from the players will be essential to solve these trends heading in the wrong direction.
One way to mitigate this is to leverage Luka off the ball, similar to what the Lakers have done with LeBron. While he’ll never be Steph Curry as a movement player, the Lakers can become too predictable at the point of attack, leading to a spike in turnovers amid increased ball pressure.
His usage is already number one in the league, and that will skyrocket with Austin Reaves out of the lineup with a calf strain. Lessening his plate while getting others going, with LeBron rounding into form as his usual self, makes it tougher for teams to impose their physical will.
In addition, Redick may look to lean more toward units with athleticism and defensive-first players. Lineups with Vanderbilt and Marcus Smart create offensive challenges, but can help match the tone of other aggressive teams.
The Lakers have a +2.9 net rating in the small sample of games they’ve shared the court, sporting a solid 110.3 defensive rating, per NBA stats.
There are many routes the Lakers and Redick can take, but sometimes the solution is simple.
“You match physicality with physicality,” said LeBron. “That’s the only way to do it.”
You can follow Raj on X at @RajChipalu
