With key injuries to their bigger defenders, the Lakers’ collective size is getting pushed to its limits.
There’s a turn of phrase Kurt Vonnegut uses in his short story, “The Lie,” that has always stuck with me.
“Eli sat up again, but began to slump almost immediately, like a snowman in hell.”
Like all of his writing, Vonnegut’s simile made me laugh. It was also vivid and cryptic. I visualized the snowman when I first read the story. His carrot nose, his button eyes, and his crooked smile, all melted away as he was engulfed by embers.
As I watched the Lakers try and fail to stop the Phoenix Suns’ scorching offense on Sunday, I thought about that liquified snowman again.
Possession after possession, the star duo of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker plowed away the Lakers’ perimeter defense with a flurry of jumpers and passes that led to more jumpers. This is something that has become a disconcerting trend for Los Angeles despite their improved play of late.
When removing garbage time, the Lakers have ranked 24th in defensive rating (119 points allowed per 100 possessions) in their last 15 games according to Cleaning the Glass. For context, they were 11th (114 defRTG) before the new year. The defense has essentially thawed out.
A large factor why the team has experienced dramatic slippage to their once strength has been due to a rash of injuries to their key — and big — defenders. With the likes of Jarred Vanderbilt, Cam Reddish, and Christian Wood all out, there has been more added pressure on the rest of the roster to make up for the collective size and versatility.
So far, there’s been mixed results.
When the Lakers have looked at their best this season, they overpower teams with their front-court athleticism and complement it with skill and guile from their guards. Conversely, they’ve looked at their worst when their bigs are too taxed or not engaged enough to cover up for the combined height limitations on the perimeter. On Sunday, we saw more of the latter.
After a rough start to the game, the team’s offense was mostly good for the final three quarters against the Suns. However, on the other end of the floor, there were more holes in the defense than polka dots on a Dusty Rhodes singlet.
The game plan for Phoenix was simple — attack the Lakers’ smalls. Given the Lakers were without Reddish and Vanderbilt, this naturally forced one of, if not both, D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves to be matched up against Durant and Booker. And in instances they weren't, the Suns made it a point to force them to be. The results were what you’d expect.
Beyond the clear disadvantage the Lakers’ guards have against elite scorers with size, the snowball effect it creates for both teams.
For example, in this play, the Lakers opt to send extra bodies when Durant gets Reaves alone in the post. There is so much fear in this mismatch that Taurean Prince actively plays off of Grayson Allen, who mind you is shooting 49% on his 3-point attempts this season, and Durant takes advantage by making the simple kickout.
Allen finished the game with 24 points and made six of his 12 chances from deep. Many of his looks from behind the arc came off of similar situations.
As the previous play illustrated, the sheer potential of Durant picking on the guards forced the Lakers’ defense to be in constant rotation. With players in scramble mode, this, in turn, created mismatches off the ball as well.
On this possession, the Suns empty the corner to allow Durant to attack Russell on the block. When Durant makes his move, Anthony Davis attempts to come over to offer support. The issue, however, is this forces Reaves and Russell — the low men in this situation — to tag all seven feet, 291 pounds of Jusuf Nurkić.
Like Allen, Nurkic had a monster game playing off his star teammates. Instead of shooting, he made his impact felt by using his physical frame to take advantage of how small the Lakers are whenever Davis is not directly involved in ending possessions.
The team’s inability to secure defensive rebounds has been a lingering issue all season, but even more so of late. In their last 15 games, opposing teams are pulling down 30.5% of their misses. That’s the second-highest mark in the league behind only Toronto in that span.
This trend continued on Sunday as Phoenix had a whopping 14 offensive rebounds compared to the Lakers’ measly three. Nurkic was responsible for seven alone.
Because of the negative chain reaction that transpired when sending help against Durant and Booker in all facets, the Lakers did eventually try their hand at checking them one-on-one. Unfortunately, this ended up not working either.
The Lakers allowed Reaves to try and stop Booker individually on this possession, but even despite his spirited effort, Booker was still able to simply shoot over the top.
In many instances, the limitations of the Lakers’ perimeter defenders aren’t because of a lack of effort. As Reaves showcased against Booker, they try and they care. However, sometimes effort can only do so much when beginning from a disadvantage.
Without Vanderbilt, Reddish, and Wood, opposing teams will only continue to try and exploit these weaknesses.
These injuries couldn't have come at a more inopportune time for a team still desperately fighting for a postseason bid. And with matchups with physical squads like the Clippers, Nuggets, Bucks, and Timberwolves all on the horizon, the Lakers must find an in-house solution, and fast.
If not, there’s ultimately a shelf-life on the sweating snowman that is the Lakers’ current defensive outlook. They can attempt to preserve it in the short term by playing zone, sending extra help in the post, or playing certain lineups. But eventually, high-powered teams like the Suns will find ways to burn them.
Snow is, and always will be, destined to melt.
You can follow Alex on Twitter at @AlexmRegla.
