The Lakers and Hawks decided to skip on defense today but to LeBron James and co. it was no problem as they pulled away late in a high-scoring affair 134-118. Tune in as LakerTom from lakerholics.com chimes in with Gerald about how we continue to execute on offense with big games from Malik Monk and Avery Bradley, the still polarizing Russell Westbrook, and more PLUS LakerTom has his All-Star teams ready to go. The arguments return on our next Lakers Fast Break podcast!
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Gerald and I fighting over whether the Lakers played great defense or not. My position is it was great defense by the Lakers that won this game, specifically forcing turnovers that led to 28 Lakers points and a 15-point advanteage off of turnovers.
Gerald continued to claim we played poor defense. I countered with the point that we played small but only lost the battle of the boards by 2 rebounds and points in the paint war by 2 points. Lakers learning how to win playing small.
Give us a listen and chime in on whether you agreed with me that LeBron and the Lakers played great defense last night or with Gerald that our defense sucked and we only won because of our offense.
Ehhhhhh…I don’t know about great defense. 118 points is not great defense. Young missed shots he normally makes, we didn’t reprise our role of team Oxygen (although Kevin Huerter was knocking at that door all game) and we found our good defense at the time we needed it most. I would say that you both made valid points, LeBron played pretty solid defense but it was really Russ’s rebounding that kept the battle of the boards as close as it was, THT and Reaves both got keys steals late, and we had an incredible shooting night to offset the fact that we also allowed the Hawks to score a ton of points. We only managed 6 more FGAs so we didn’t do lock them down or stop them from getting where they wanted they missed a lot of shots they often make and had TO’s at bad times (for them).
A great defense keeps teams closer to 100 and does more than accumulate steals and blocks. They deny the team the kind of shots they want, we didn’t do anything like that. We’re functioning better at defense on a basic level but we’re not forcing enough midrange jumpers. They still got 12 offensive rebounds (too many), 29 assists (too efficient), and 56 points in the paint (still too small to deter shots at the rim). Atlanta may have made it to the ECF last season but they look nothing like that team to date. The home stand has consisted of highly beatable teams who have a players out, we should be winning these games.
The offense has looked the best it’s ever looked this season of late, that’s been the biggest change. The defense is approaching league average but it should get better with AD and Nunn.
Oh, Tom will you ever learn….First, to clarify I said defensive “lapses” as they gave up multiple double-digit leads. This might happen one or two times a month to the top teams in the league but to happen as frequently as it did last night clearly shows that despite some very good defensive possessions, the Lakers with their small-ball lineups have quite a bit more to work on when it comes to a consistent four quarters of defense. Second, Tom never question my objectiveness as I have clearly gone out of my way to be as objective as possible as I try to see the game through my experience in covering the NBA as opposed to seeing it from just a fan’s point of view. Let’s never go there Tom with objectiveness because everyone knows you see all things through those purple and gold-colored glasses you have on when you go hiking lol. Third, your All-Star lineups were really good and I must say for someone who has not been able to watch a good portion of the NBA outside of the Lakers I am very impressed with your picks. I would just choose Jimmy Butler over Bam simply because of the health status for Bam but looking forward to dropping my own picks on lakerholics.com real soon.
Well, one thing I won’t argue with you is which of us is more objective. I’ve never tried to claim that I’m objective when it comes to the Laker or that I don’t look at things in life and basketball with a Glass Half Full approach.
I like where this team is headed and still contend that it was our defense was just as important as our offense last night. We had 14 steals and scored 28 points off of 15 Hawk turnovers. A lot of why we were successful on offense was due to our defense.
You also have to accept that score is not really the best indicator of the quality of defense a team plays. We had 24 fast break points to just 10 for Atlanta. We took 101 shots and made 49.5% but we held them to just 45.3% from the field.
If we score 134, it’s almost impossible to hold the other team under 120 but then we did.
Finally, did you watch or listen to the game? I know sometimes you have to pick up your wife and catch the game on Sirius. Just asking because the eye test told me that LeBron and the Lakers played excellent defense. There were also two scrub threes in the last minute that inflated the Hawks score and made the game seem closer than it was. A game where Lakers played excellent offense and defense.
Saw the whole game on my beautiful QLED TV. Unlike you who seemingly only caught the Lakers runs…OOOOOOHHHHHHH COMEBACK OHHHHHHHHHHH LOL
LOL. So you saw that great defense by LeBron James playing center stripping the ball from various Hawks players and swatting away layups?
Or was that during the breaks to fill your half empty glass?
While our offense keeps humming our defense seems to be lacking behind. We gave up at least 100 points in the past 6 games. All but one has been a loss, and that was against the Grizzlies. Our defense is a work in progress though not too shabby. And as long as we compensate that on the offensive end till AD returns we should be in good shape. AD’s presence will help shore up our defense.