How the LA Lakers Are Winning with Smoke and Mirrors
The Los Angeles Lakers have been average to start the 2013-14 campaign, and in reality, this occurrence is nothing more than a mirage.
Entering the season, the expectation from the masses was that Los Angeles would be one of the worst teams in the Western Conference.
Indeed, Dwight Howard’s free-agency departure in favour of the Houston Rockets plus Kobe Bryant’s recovery from Achilles surgery were enough for ESPN.com’s panel of basketball analysts to project the Lakers to finish 12th in the West.
And yet, the Purple and Gold has not been that bad in 2013-14. They are a mediocre bunch as opposed to an unmitigated disaster. However, this cannot hold up.
Offensive Offense
The Lakers have been subpar on offense despite the fact that their long-range shooting has been great. Three-point shooting has proved to be the great equalizer, and thus, Mike D’Antoni has used it.
The Lakers are among the leaders in attempts from downtown and conversion rate from that distance. That is the lone thing this team can hang its hat on.
Indeed, Pau Gasol and Co. have stayed in games thanks in large part to their ability to connect from distance, but that is hardly sufficient even for a team vying for one of the last playoff spots.
As Charles Barkley loves to reminds us during TNT’s Inside the NBA: “You live by jumpers and die by jumpers.” The Lakers do not do anything else well enough on offense to complement their trey-heavy mentality, and as a result, it’s a mess.
They simply do not score enough to enjoy any level of consistent success going forward. Granted, they have surprised a few teams on their home floor by posting some impressive point totals (north of 110 points), but that was mostly a product of the lack of defensive attention of the opposition.
Steve Nash will miss a stretch of early games in 2013-14 because of injury, and also, Kobe Bryant still has a ways to go before he plays for the Lakers this season. Consequently, the Lakers lack elite-level shot creators, which means the offense will be bad until they re-join the team.
Rob Mahoney over at The Point Forward shared some thoughts on this topic:
"Scoring this inefficiently is somewhat understandable, given Bryant’s absence, Nash’s injury and the prevalence of cast-off players in the rotation, but having Kobe around changes that dynamic considerably. He’ll free up his teammates for open looks simply by being on the floor, should still be able to pump-fake his way to the free-throw line (he averaged eight attempts last season, particularly relevant as the current Lakers are one of the league’s worst foul-drawing teams) and is a better funnel for possessions than the likes of Nick Young or Xavier Henry.
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With that said, their return does not come with a magic elixir that will instantly cure the Lakers’ woes. Keep in mind, both players may very well be incredibly limited physically, and thus, they may end up compromising team dynamics.
On the flip side, perhaps they return and immediately breath some life and creativity into the offense. The odds certainly suggest otherwise, though, given their respective ages and ailments.
Almost-Average Defense
The Los Angeles Lakers defense has hovered around respectability this season, but it has had truly awful nights as well. Indeed, the Purple and Gold have surrendered two of the highest scoring totals (the Dallas Mavericks dropped 125 points on them and the Golden State Warriors scored 123) in 2013-14.
They simply cannot stop teams on the interior. Per Team Rankings, they are in the league’s bottom five in opponents' points in the paint per game. Combine that weak interior defense with passable perimeter resistance and we have a recipe for a bad team.
For the sake of context, the statistical profile of these Lakers is quite similar to that of the 2012-13 Milwaukee Bucks. Some might recall that the squad made the postseason, but that only occurred because the Eastern Conference as a whole was bad.
Milwaukee won 38 games and was swept out of the playoffs by the Miami Heat in a first-round series that looked as though it only featured one NBA team. Given how many talented teams reside in the Western Conference, it would be practically impossible for the Lakers to play into late April with a sub-.500 record.
And well, that is where they are headed.
The defense fluctuates from night to night because the Lakers simply cannot contain dribble penetration. They react late to drives, cuts and hard screens. Thus, opponents are often roaming around the floor free with little attention getting paid to them. Have a look at the video below and observe how easily John Wall gets into the paint and finds Nene for an score late in the game:
Jordan Hill offered his thoughts on the topic to Jovan Buha of ESPN Los Angeles:
"Our defense can definitely be better. We slip up a lot. We can definitely rotate better. Like I said, we’re starting to talk, but we can talk more. We just have to go out there and be aggressive. We’re not talented enough to take plays or take days off. We have to go out there and have a lot of energy.
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Given how bad the offense has been, the Lakers must simply be better on the other side of the ball. An elite defense will help keep the team in games when their scoring suffers, and thus, it will give L.A. chances to win contests late.
Mind you, D’Antoni has simply never been a great defensive coach, and really, that is not about to change anytime soon. Consequently, the Lakers will not be in the playoff hunt by season’s end.
