So far this season, the Los Angeles Lakers have been an outstanding offensive team led by Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James. The defensive side of the ball has been up-and-down, however, with some really rough outings leading to blowout losses.
In fact, all of the Lakers’ losses this season have been by double-digits with the team allowing nearly 124 points per game in those contests. Following their most recent loss though, the Lakers were able to get back on track with a victory over the Phoenix Suns and a much better defensive outing overall.
Deandre Ayton believes it was a good step for the Lakers to begin correcting things defensively as he feels scouting reports on them are embarrassing and believes they must have more pride on that end of the court, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“You know, seeing the scouting report of what teams make of us was pretty embarrassing. We’re a really good offensive team, but when you start to look at those numbers in-depth and seeing over a span of games, like 10 games, it’s terrible. Tonight was a great start. From those last two practices and the film meeting JJ really got on us and basically showed us ‘y’all showing y’all ass right now and it’s time to tighten up a little bit.’ Gotta have some pride on the defensive end.”
The Lakers currently rank 20th overall in defensive rating, but that doesn’t tell the whole story either. The team ranks 24th opposing field goal percentage and 28th opposing 3-point percentage. The Lakers have also struggled to take care of the ball, which has exposed their transition defense as they rank 27th in points of turnovers allowed and 23rd fastbreak points allowed.
Ayton is that last line of defense in the paint and he has done a solid job at protecting the rim, but this Lakers defense as a whole needs to improve if this team plans on reaching another level. Head coach JJ Redick calling them out and making it clear where they are failing is a good start, but the Lakers will have to execute as a team consistently and, as Ayton said, have more pride on that end of the court.
Lakers coach JJ Redick credits Deandre Ayton for defense vs. 76ers
A recent contest in which Deandre Ayton really stepped up defensively was the Lakers’ win over the Philadelphia 76ers and head coach JJ Redick gave the big man a lot of credit afterwards.
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