It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers do not have the personnel to be a great defensive team as outside of Anthony Davis, guys like LeBron James, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht are all known for their offensive prowess.
As a result, the Lakers have struggles on the defensive end of the floor, particularly when it comes to things that require physicality such as boxing out and keeping the opposing team off the offensive glass.
This is something they are trying to address though as head coach JJ Redick revealed that they had a very physical and competitive practice session on Monday.
When Reaves was asked about that, he talked about the Lakers wanting to be more physical defensively moving forward and forcing the referees’ hands a bit.
“I think if you watch basketball for a long time, the teams that are ‘physical defensive teams’ might get away with a little more just because every possession you can’t call a foul,” Reaves said.
“So we’re trying to get to that where we’re physical every possession and we have to make the refs call fouls. Our personnel, if we’re honest with ourselves, isn’t the best defensively. Obviously we got AD that covers up a lot, but we have to be physical out on the perimeter and especially when we’re boxing out. We got to do a better job defensively in transition as well.”
Reaves added that while the Lakers may get called for more fouls, there aren’t really any other detractions from being more physical defensively.
“I think you might tend to give up more free throws. But I don’t really think you have to give up anything. I don’t think you’re giving up anything if someone is crashing. You put a body on them and check them out. So I don’t think you necessarily have to give anything up there, you just put a forearm in their chest and if the ref calls it, they call it.”
It’s clear that the Lakers are at their best when they are using their size and physicality to their advantage. They can’t do that against every team with their personnel, but there are definitely matchups where it can be leveraged to their advantage.
Austin Reaves: Lakers in good spirits despite back-to-back losses
After a six-game winning streak, the Lakers have come back down to earth, losing back-to-back games at home. They first loss on a game-winning 3-pointer to the Orlando Magic and then were absolutely blown out in the second half against the Denver Nuggets.
Despite the disappointing nature of both of those losses though, Austin Reaves says the team is in good spirits and ready to bounce back.
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