Anthony Davis details how Lakers have found success against elite guards this season https://t.co/8uA1hAFqCD via @LakersSBN
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) March 24, 2024
For all the faults the Lakers have had this season, they’ve been a side that typically, more often than not, gets up for big games, Kings and Nuggets contests excluded. The In-Season Tournament serves as the most glowing example of that, but they’ve done it multiple times this year. They’ve won the season series against the Thunder, Clippers and Suns.
In many of those contests, they’ve particularly found success in defending some of the top point guards in the league. Tyrese Haliburton, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and, on Friday, Tyrese Maxey all have struggled at times against the Lakers.
Maxey finished Friday’s loss with 27 points but needed 26 shots to do so, converting on only 10 of them. He also finished 1-9 from the 3-point line and had more fouls (4) than assists (3).
Following the game, Anthony Davis spoke about how the Lakers have found success against those aforementioned teams.
“We try to get a lot of deflections show crowds,” Davis said. “OKC, just like tonight – Maxey tonight, OKC with Shai, Indiana with Haliburton, all these guys who are elite guards, can playmake and shoot and score really well, we try to show a presence so they don’t see driving lanes which kind of fuels their game and also finding guys kind of gives them confidence. For us, it’s just always showing two bodies or three bodies in front of whoever that guard is, making it difficult for them.”
When the Lakers are at their healthiest, they have more size and length on the perimeter than most previous iterations of this team. And that came even before the team added Spencer Dinwiddie who, for all his faults, has found more success defensively than offensively.
As with anything this Lakers team does this year, their consistency defensively wanes. More often than not, as mentioned, they’ve shown up for the big games and had a high level of defense. It’s those games that make the nights the Lakers don’t bring the intensity all the more frustrating.
The best version of this team — and basically any team of the LeBron James and Anthony Davis era — is one that gets stops and gets out and runs in transition. It’s the formula they used to win the title in 2020 and it’s been one that has been successful ever since.
The Lakers will have opportunities to showcase their defense in the coming week with a pair of match-ups against the Pacers and Haliburton. And they’re at a point in the season where the consistency can’t waver anymore without there being really big consequences.
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