Los Angeles Lakers: Defensive Woes Continue To Haunt Team
By Chris Lee
The Los Angeles Lakers’ defense has been awful in 2012-13 despite the presence of former Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard. Photo Credit: Bridget Samuels, Flickr.com
The Los Angeles Lakers 2012-13 season has been a rough one, with lofty goals of competing with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat. However, the Lakers continue to struggle and are currently holding on to the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoff race.
And now the Lakers will have to hold onto that playoff spot without Kobe Bryant after their superstar guard, Kobe Bryant, suffered an apparent Achilles tendon tear on Friday, April 12 (per FOXSports.com).
The focus for the Lakers’ struggles has been on the struggling offense. However, the defense has been just as dreadful despite the presence of three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard anchoring the defensive front.
The Lakers are No. 24 in opponent points per game, allowing 101.3 points per game, and are No. 29 in opponent turnovers, only forcing 12.4 turnovers per game. To put this in perspective, the Orlando Magic, the team Howard was traded from, are allowing 100.8 points per game.
One of the problems with Lakers is their inability to stop opponents from scoring in the paint. This season the Lakers are allowing 44.1 points per game in the paint, which is No. 26 in the NBA.
Starting point guard Steve Nash has always been a liability defensively and continues to allow open driving and passing lanes to opponents. Bryant had a fantastic offensive season, but his defense was lacking most of the season. Bryant is capable of being a good one-on-one defender, but was focused on making flashy plays defensively rather than solid, fundamental defense. His tendency to jump passes forced the defense to scramble and caused the defensive rotations to break down.
Coach Mike D’Antoni’s offense has improved during the season, but the defense has always been a weak point of D’Antoni-coached teams. Since 2008, during his tenure with the New York Knicks, D’Antoni’s best defensive season saw the Knicks finished No. 27 in opponent points per game
The Lakers’ defensive issues have the team clinging to one-game lead over the Utah Jazz for the No. 8 seed. If the Lakers are going to make it into the postseason, then they will have to show improvement over these last two games of the regular season.