LOS ANGELES — Even as his team was in the midst of a 13-game stretch of statistically performing as one of league’s worst offensive teams, Lakers coach JJ Redick was seeing signs of better days.
“I would say I like where we’re headed offensively with the process, and I like where we’re headed with our organization,” he said ahead of the team’s Dec. 23 home loss to the Detroit Pistons. “And there certainly was a stretch there where I didn’t like much about offense. [Austin Reaves] being out kinda hurt for that stretch of [five] games. But in terms of the process, we’re trending in the right direction. Results not so much, but I like where we’re headed.”
The timing of Redick’s comments were almost prophetic, with that night marking a turning point for the Lakers’ offense.
The loss to the Pistons marked the first time the Lakers finished with a single-game offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) of at least 117 since their Nov. 27 road win over the San Antonio Spurs.
Since then, they’ve again had one of the league’s best offenses, recording a 120.1 offensive rating over their last six games for the league’s sixth-best mark after ranking second-to-last in their previous 13 games (105.5).
“Offensively, we’re figuring it out … and we’re playing really well,” Anthony Davis said. “So it’s just a matter of keeping it going. We’re sharing the basketball. Shooting the ball with confidence. And when you get a chance to play basketball for a long time with the same group, you start to figure out guys’ tendencies.”
The last 1½ weeks of offensive performances have been a return to offensive prosperity for the Lakers.
They had the league’s fourth-best offensive rating (118.8) in their first 15 games before going through a drought on that end of the floor.
An uptick in offensive performances was expected from the Lakers.
They were the league’s worst wide-open shooting team (shots taken when the closest defender is at least six feet away) during their offensive drought. They were in the middle of the pack to start the season, suggesting they were going through bad shooting luck and not a bad shooting team. They’ve returned to shooting efficiently on wide-open shots over the last six games.
But the Lakers have also had a significant shift in how they run their offense, utilizing a lot more pick and rolls.
In the Lakers’ first eight games, just 26.1% of the Lakers’ scoring possessions (shot/turnover/free throws) came after pick and rolls, according to Synergy, which would’ve ranked 28th if extrapolated across the entire season.
Their pick-and-roll usage has ticked up since then:
Games 9-16: 29.7% (22nd);
Games 17-24: 33% (12th);
Games 25-34: 35.3% (sixth).
“Some of it was getting [D’Angelo Russell] more pick and rolls when he was with us,” Redick explained. “We went from 11 a game to a seven-game stretch where it was 22 a game. Austin [Reaves] on-ball has been really good. And the other thing is just within early offense, trying to get certain screening combinations and certain spacing alignments that we feel can be advantageous.
“And we try to be smart about it, not just say we’re just gonna come down and run angle pick and roll every time. But we’re certainly trying to find balance with all the different actions we have.”
When: 4 p.m. PT Sunday
Where: Toyota Center, Houston
TV/radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM
