Monday night saw the Los Angeles Lakers lose to the Brooklyn Nets in what was an uneven and disappointing game. Gabe Vincent played one of his best games of the season, scoring 24 points and hitting six 3-pointers, but the Lakers’ stars struggled, their defensive communication was poor and the Nets had a strong defensive strategy.
The Nets chose to blitz the Lakers ball-handlers Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves in an attempt to force bad shots from the two or to force the ball into other players’ hands. It worked in both ways, as Vincent and Dalton Knecht combined for 30 field goal attempts and the Reaves-Doncic pairing shot 27.5% from the field.
Vincent spoke about why the Nets’ blitzing strategy worked so well and what L.A. needs to do to prevent that from happening in future games, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It sped us up a little bit, whether we did get to the 4-on-3 and took an ill-advised shot or the best shot available. They sped us up, credit to them. There’s some things we can improve on, it’s not gonna be the last time we see guys get doubled or get fired. So just take it as an opportunity to learn and move forward.”
The Lakers guard isn’t losing any faith that the team can respond to that type of defense, especially once they are fully healthy again:
“High. I think when those guys are back, we’re gonna see doubles. It’s a lot to deal with Luka Doncic, it’s a lot to deal with LeBron James. Guys are gonna double them at times and we just gotta be able to make the right reads on them.”
Because of that, he views the Nets loss as a one-off moment and not a sign of things to come with LeBron James out of the lineup:
“I think it’s really disappointing to have a loss, a character loss like this where it’s a little bit out of character. We like to see it as an outlier, at least I do. Hopefully we can put it in its place and take these next couple days here to get ready for Milwaukee and look forward.”
Given that the Nets loss was only the Lakers’ fifth in their last 25 games, there shouldn’t be much reason for concern. But L.A. will need to make an adjustment if other teams look at what the Nets did defensively and try to replicate it with more defensive talent.
Austin Reaves doesn’t sugarcoat poor play in Lakers loss
Austin Reaves had a particularly difficult night against the Nets, going 3-for-14 from the field. He added 10 assists and eight rebounds with his 17 points, but he was also a game-low minus-10 and looked to be sped up from the Nets’ blitzes.
He was extremely critical of himself after the game, saying that he played incredibly badly and needed to better with LeBron James out of the lineup.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
