After a string of strong showings at that end of the floor, it appears the Lakers could have turned a corner defensively.
In many ways, the Lakers hit a breaking point during their road trip, specifically during their loss to the Heat. While the warning signs were there, the entire dam broke in that outing as the Heat poured on 134 points and handed the purple and gold a historic defeat.
While it wasn’t immediate, the Lakers season turned on that moment. After an overtime loss to the Hawks in which they allowed 132 points to cap off the road trip, they returned home and have shown a refocused energy on the defensive side of the ball.
First, they held the Blazers to 98 points in a win before falling to the Wolves despite holding them to 97 points. Head coach JJ Redick called that game the team’s best defensive showing of the season.
The two games since have almost assuredly surpassed that mark. They limited the Grizzlies to 110 points and only 46 in the first half and then followed it up on Thursday by holding the Kings to 42 second-half points, earning wins in both games.
While players and coaches can talk the talk about needing to change things defensively, the Lakers have walked the walk, albeit in a small sample size.
“I just think our overall attention to detail and focus,” Gabe Vincent said of what’s changed defensively after the win in Sacramento. “I think we’ve been in the gaps better. I think we’ve been competing harder on the ball, been covering for one another more. Our trust has picked up on that side of the ball. I think it’s been an overall uptick in our effort on that side.”
Again, with the caveat of this being a small sample size, the Lakers are the best defensive rating in the league over the last four games at 98.5. For context, the leader for the season overall in defensive rating is the Thunder at 103.1.
The team’s they’ve done it against aren’t all that bad either. The Grizzlies rank fourth in the league in offensive rating while the Kings are seventh. After the loss to the Hawks, the Lakers were 26th in defensive rating at 117.6.
Now, following this four-game stretch, they’ve jumped up to 21st at 114.7. It’s a modest jump, but considering how large the sample size is for the season overall, it’s impressive. It’s also been necessary at times recently as the team’s offense continues to be a work in progress.
On Thursday, the team shot just 40% from the field and hit only 12 3-pointers, yet were able to come away with the win because of their work on the other end of the floor.
“Our defense stood out the most,” LeBron James said. “Obviously, when you shoot 40% on the road, there’s a couple factors that has to happen. You can’t turn the ball over and you have to get timely stops and we did that throughout the course of the game.”
On Media Day, Anthony Davis spoke about a desire for the Lakers to be a top-ten defense this season. It was and still is an ambitious goal. But their recent stretch of games also show it isn’t an impossible goal either.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
