A switch was flipped for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in mid-January. After two games were postponed due to the L.A. wildfires, the Lakers came back to action and were smoked by the San Antonio Spurs by 24 points on Jan. 13. That was the 37th game of the regular season, and the Lakers looked to be a middling team at best.
Through Jan. 14 games, the Lakers were 20-17 with the 14th-ranked offense and the 24th-ranked defense in the NBA. They were barely staying afloat in the Western Conference standings and appeared destined for yet another trip to the Play-In Tournament. It is almost unfathomable what the Lakers have done since.
The Lakers have the best record in the NBA since Jan. 15 — 17-4 — along with the 10th-best offense and the No. 1 overall defense in basketball. They’ve done this despite losing All-Defense star Anthony Davis both to injury and then to trade. With Luka Doncic in the mix, they’ve continued to shine defensively with a new scheme under head coach JJ Redick.
After the team’s fifth win in a row on Friday night, LeBron spoke about how defense has become the Lakers’ identity.
“That’s just us.” James said. “I mean, it is who we are at this point. We hang our hat on our defense because you can’t always understand or know what’s going to happen offensively as far as your shooting or whatever the case may be.
“Obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball well tonight or as well as we would like to, but defensively is where we hang our hat. It’s going to give us a chance to win every night.”
The Lakers are playing incredible basketball recently, but LeBron feels the team has even more room to improve on both ends of the floor.
“Just continue to grow,” he said. “Obviously, we want to continue to grow offensively, continue to grow defensively. We’re in a good place, but we’re not comfortable at all. We haven’t played our best game. We’re capable of playing, obviously. We’ve got a couple of injuries and things of that nature that we need to attend to as well. That’s always very important, being able to keep it going in this league too. You have to have that type of luck too, so we’ll see what happens.”
LeBron has looked as motivated over the last few weeks as he has been since the Lakers championship season. And it’s because for the first time since that season, the Lakers legitimately look like contenders that can make a run if they stay healthy.
Their defense no longer appears to be a fluke, but something they actually can hang their hat on.
LeBron James not concerned about Luka Doncic’s shooting troubles
LeBron James and JJ Redick spoke about the difficulties that Luka Doncic has had from the field since joining the Lakers, but neither is concerned long-term. Both know that the shots will eventually start falling for one of the world’s best offensive players.
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