The Los Angeles Lakers have performed as well in the standings as anyone could have possibly hoped for through the first 16 games of the season. L.A. is 12-4 and currently in second place in the Western Conference as things stand on Monday morning. Offseason additions like Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart have been even better than advertised and the Lakers have battled for some tough wins.
But a quick look at the league-wide stats tell a much different story than the one in the standings. The Lakers’ 115.8 offensive rating is 15th in the league, their 113.3 defensive rating is 14th, their 3-point percentage is 26th, their turnover rate is 28th, their rebound rate is 11th, their assist rate is 21st and their point differential on the season is 15th. By nearly every major metric, they are a middle-of-the-road team.
After the Lakers survived a late flurry from the Utah Jazz on Sunday night to win their fourth straight game and move to 12-4, Smart tried to answer how they have such a good record when nothing about their statistics suggests that, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Just our resilience. It’s something new every game for us that’s allowing us to do that when we get in those woes. We have some vets on the team that do a really good job of controlling the tempo, controlling the tempers, controlling emotions and making sure we get the job done. We’re definitely going to shoot better, we work too hard not to. That’s part of the game, we’ve just got to keep shooting though.”
Smart continued to discuss the 3-point shooting that has hammered the Lakers and some of the other issues that they have seen, and why he and the purple and gold aren’t worried about any of it in the long-term:
“Definitely. I mean, we’re winning games and we’re one of — if not the — worst three-point shooting teams in the league. And some of our defensive woes that are happening, we’ve got guys coming back, guys out, guys playing different positions and things like that. So once we get back on track, those things get cleaned up, along with our shooting. And you’ll see a different team. But we’re very optimistic to win games in different ways.”
The Lakers firmly believe that some of their negative statistics are anomalies and can be fixed over time. Only time will tell if the stats will eventually correct themselves to match the record, or if the record will correct itself to match the stats.
But for now, leaning on resilience and veteran leadership has gotten L.A. this far.
JJ Redick credits Lakers defense for win over Jazz
The Lakers snuck out of Salt Lake City on Sunday night with a win over the Jazz, their second in a row over Utah and their fourth win in a row overall.
Starting center Deandre Ayton was ruled out of the game for the entire second half — the extent of his injury is still unknown — leading Maxi Kleber to play 14 minutes, while backup guard Gabe Vincent was asked to play 20. Kleber entered the game for Jaxson Hayes at the 6:59 mark of the third quarter, when the Jazz were leading the Lakers 72-68.
Kleber played the rest of the third quarter, when the Lakers outscored the Jazz 16-9 over the final seven minutes to re-take the lead. Utah then scored only 13 more points between the start of the fourth and the 2:52 mark, totaling them to 22 points in a 16-minute stretch.
Redick, after the game, credited Kleber and Vincent for stepping up and said that the defense was the reason for L.A.’s win over Utah.
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