The Lakers are winning games against the best teams in the NBA thanks to their defensive effort. They recently beat the Knicks and held them to under 100 points. LA has done that only four times this season, and in every instance, they earned a win.
Against the Wolves, it was the Lakers’ defense once again that stifled Minnesota.
The Wolves struggled from 3-point range, shooting 25% as a team, and they scored just 42 points in the paint compared to the Lakers’ 56.
Thanks to this defensive performance,
LA cruised to a win, beating the Wolves 120-106 to sweep the season series.
After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick commended his team’s ability to execute defensively.
“You can talk about schemes and rotations and low man and all that stuff,” Redick said. “Our guys have been a lot better just guarding the basketball…I think just containing the basketball was really good. Then when we were in rotation, we did a really good job. I thought our attention to detail on the [Julius] Randle and [Anthony] Edwards coverage was really good. DA was fantastic tonight on that end, and then the first half, we really couldn’t make a shot. He was really the only one scoring efficiently for us.”
During the Lakers’ current homestand, their defense has been the team’s strongest quality. Over the last three games, LA has a defensive rating of 108.1, which is the third-best in the NBA during this span. That’s a stark improvement from their season defensive rating, which is 115.7.
“Our defensive game plan was fantastic,” Redick said. “They executed it. Randle takes 11 shots, 14 points. Edwards goes 2-15. Certainly, I think he missed a couple of those threes that he can make, but I thought the majority of his threes were tough, contested threes.”
Anthony Edwards scored just 14 points against the Lakers, well below his season average of 29.4. Julius Randle also struggled, scoring only 14. The fact that Los Angeles found a way to shut down Minnesota’s top scorers is huge.
Once you also factor in that LA is playing this well defensively against top teams like New York and Minnesota, who both made the Conference Finals last season and are above .600 teams this year, it makes this current stretch all the more impressive.
The Lakers are passing the tests these teams present, and that’s due to a combination of the coaching staff preparing the team and the players executing on that vision.
If this defensive execution continues, then the Lakers will maximize their potential this year and are heading towards another high seed position in a very competitive Western Conference.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
