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DLo being DLo for nearly 30 minutes.@LakersLead @Dloading @dlo_muse @IceyDLO
— Lakers Universal (@LakersUniversal) March 24, 2024
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AD details how Lakers found success vs. elite guards this season
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.
Here’s why it’s hard to gain ground in the West
The Lakers actually have a HIGHER win pct this season than they did last season. So why are they still stuck in 9th? I give you the Western Conference: pic.twitter.com/niyWLAqkJu
— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) March 24, 2024
5 Things: The Walking Wounded
The Lakers have resembled a M.A.S.H. as much as an NBA team this season with only Austin Reaves and Taurean Prince being available for every game. As we hurtle towards the end of the season I wanted to look at how these injuries have affected the team.
1) Gabe Vincent: knee. Deja vu from Kendrick Nunn, another Miami Heat MLE signing that went all sorts of wrong right off the bat. Limited to 5 games, never looked right, one has to question that even if he could come back if he should given the size and length of his deal. The Lakers have sorely missed a point of attack guard and his overall skill set…until the win the Spencer Dinwiddie sweepstakes. Like Nunn every “about to return” benchmark has come and gone with either no update or worse news.
2) Christian Wood. Maybe the most controversial signing this offseason Wood’s role and impact have fluctuated wildly. Given the variance of his season, the fact he’s been ruled out due to his injury, and his past baggage it’s almost impossible to see him not picking up his player option this summer.
3) Jalen Hood-Schafino. The question of “why” will likely surround JHS until he either plays better or plays some where else. Had no role to speak of, now out for the season, I guess I’m hoping he’s healthy for summer league although what role he has on the team is a mystery to us all.
4) Cam Reddish. While technically not injured it’s obvious he’s still limited. Since he started missing tune due to an ankle injury he’s never looked like the same guy we saw that started the season re-inventing himself as a defensive stalwart who could score at the rim. He’s not scoring at the rim, his defense has slipped back to his older habits and he was never a knock down shooter. Injuries to other guys will likely define his role going forward and he also has a player option I expect him to pick up. Hard to see him getting major minutes or having a large role in the playoffs but you never know. If he can recapture that defensive intensity it opens a lot of doors.
5) Jarred Vanderbilt. Perhaps no Laker has had as much of an impact on the teams fortunes as Vando missing the vast majority of the season. Depending on how much you value the defensive side of the court his impact measures from limited to large. When Vando plays, even with limited minutes, the improvement in the defense is easy to both see and track. When he finally betrayed playing to an average baseline on offense it got real easy to understand why he was awarded that deal this summer. Of all the injured Lakers Jarred is the one referred to the most when after losses. Whether or not he comes back is almost secondary to how long it seems to take him to ramp up and get everything working. If he does come back at all I won’t be surprised if it comes with a minutes limit for the rest of the season/playoffs.
Other Lakers have missed time but none to the degree of the players above. It’s unfortunate because of how available AD and LBJ have been. That we haven’t won more can be traced back to these injuries but also to how the coaching staff has reached and adjusted to them which has been, in my opinion, pretty poorly.
The narratives around D’Angelo Russell this season
The narratives around D'Angelo Russell this season:
* WCF this, WCF that.
* Shouldn't even start over Gabe Vincent
*Not even a Top 4 option 😭😭
* Glorified Sixth Man
* Inconsistent! Hot streak won't last
*Negative asset
*Trade for Dejounte Murray/Zach Lavine pic.twitter.com/PtdPtx1EHn— Coach Dom 🏀🏀 (@DominickNBA) March 23, 2024