Los Angeles Lakers: Preseason Blowouts Continue
By Shane Young
The Los Angeles Lakers fell to 1-3 in the NBA preseason on Thursday night, suffering a harrowing 33-point loss to the Utah Jazz. Quinn Snyder has those Salt Lake City boys looking unbeatable.
The platitude of “It’s just the preseason” has been around professional sports for the last decade. I’m sure, back in the day, people would’ve still believed preseason games mattered, and they weren’t completely careless if their team won or lost.
Now, in today’s game, people are still careless of the preseason. Even I am, since it’s mainly used for bench players to receive a gob of minutes they likely won’t in the regular season. Also, it’s basically a tryout for the bottom-tier guys on the roster. Whether that’s a veteran who’s been around the league and searching for a job, or a newcomer that went undrafted, those players have to make the most of their big minutes in the preseason.
Byron Scott figured his Lakers would take advantage of the preseason, and work together to build the confidence for opening week (Oct. 28-31). However, Scott also knew in the back of his mind that it would take a lot of learning, and a lot of experimenting. On several occasions, he’s referred to the length of time this unit has been together, and how everything in the NBA is fighting through the learning curve. After all, this roster does include more than six new players, and they’ve been installing components of different offenses throughout practice.
No matter how much time it’s supposed to take, though, nobody can be satisfied with blowouts. Harsh losses, after losses, after losses.
Concluding their fourth preseason game in 11 days, Los Angeles finds themselves 1-3, with the only win coming in the Oct. 6 meeting vs. Denver. Since then, it’s been three straight defeats, by an average losing margin of 29.7 points. That’s outright disgusting, for any organization. But, anytime you throw the Lakers into a discussion, expectations are supposed to rise.
Trailing by just five heading into the second quarter, the Lakers were in a great position to compete for the rest of the night. After all, Kobe Bryant had started on the right foot, scoring a quick nine points and even connecting on a vintage And-1, getting Utah rookie Rodney Hood in the air on a jumper.
Everything broke loose in the second, where Utah poured 31 points on the Lakers’ non-existent defense. They outscored Los Angeles by 16 in the quarter, taking a 21-point lead into halftime. “Winning” is no longer a thought when the game gets completely out of hand, and you just look to not get blown out.
While most of the disaster is with the offense, and how little emphasis Scott wants to put on the 3-point arc this season, the defensive end isn’t up to par. Defense hasn’t been an acceptable part of the Lakers’ game since Mike Brown was let go in November 2012. In the preseason, they’ve allowed 112.5 points per game, with each of the last three being 118.3 point outings by their opponents.
Additionally, they’ve allowed 125-of-230 field goals, meaning their opponents have shot 54.3 percent through the last three games.
From the perimeter, the Lakers haven’t been atrocious defending outside shooters, using the aggressive and scrappy defense of Ronnie Price. Even Bryant has been steadily keeping with his man, and forcing guys into tough 3-point looks.
Mainly, it’s the pick-and-roll defense that’s been murdering them, and just interior protection in general.
When they hedge the ball-handler after the initial screen, the Lakers bigs leave a large gap in the middle of the court:
When Trey Burke gets around the Derrick Favors screen on Ronnie Price, he draws the help from Jordan Hill (Favor’s man). Bryant could slide over and step in front of Favors, but leaving Gordon Hayward on the wing is too deadly, even if Burke would have to make a tough cross-court pass. And, if Hayward slid to the top of the key, Favors would be in a great position to set a screen on Bryant. You don’t want to free up Hayward, a career 36.4 percent outside shooter.
This is why Utah is much better offensively this season, as they actually have another year under their belt with Burke running the point.
Upon the catch, Favors already has a couple viable options since he’s so close to the restricted area. He has the momentum to split the double of Boozer and the recovering Jordan Hill. He also has Enes Kanter on the baseline, out towards mid-range. I’m not buying into the notion of Kanter taking outside shots this season, and it’s made all of us wonder why Quinn Snyder would ever suggest such things. Kanter won’t even be on the floor with the starters much longer if 7-2 Rudy Gobert continues to shine in all areas.
Favors elects to take the opportunity himself:
Realistically, Utah was going to get points either way on this possession. This is exactly why the league is predicated on pick-and-roll, and why offenses are usually dead if they don’t have adequate ball handlers and roll-men. Kanter takes off toward the paint, as Favors could’ve easily dropped it off to him for the easy finish. Instead, he took the shot, and got enough contact for a whistle.
The issue is just the level of defensive toughness, and quickness to recover. Bryant and Price can’t come off the wings with Utah’s shooters on the court, and that only means one thing: Hill and Boozer have to do a better job stopping the roll man (Favors), and also paying attention to the baseline cutter (Kanter). Hill could’ve sagged back on the hedge, and not stuck with Burke so tightly. He isn’t going to burn you with the mid-range that often, and Hill has the length to contest the shot with a little space.
Hill being a bit careless of the roll man forced Boozer into tough decisions, and I’m not convinced Boozer is the right person to be making defensive choices.
Even with rookie Dante Exum and sophomore Rudy Gobert in the game, the Lakers’ frontcourt had trouble stopping penetration and easy scores:
When Exum flashes toward the paint off the dribble, he forces the help from Julius Randle. Randle, initially guarding Trevor Booker on the perimeter, keeps Exum toward the baseline and doesn’t allow him to get near the middle.
It all falls apart, however, when Ed Davis turns his attention to the strong side of the court. Davis takes his eyes away from Gobert, who gets in perfect position for the little drop-off pass:
You can’t expect smaller wing players to defend the massive Gobert, and that’s what Davis does. While some could argue he was doing his job to protect the rim from Exum’s drive, you can also make the case that Randle was cutting him off. First off, guards shouldn’t be getting blown by and left in the dust, and Exum just has a knack for getting inside using his speed.
Davis turning his attention to the play left Gobert on an island by himself, and he was easily able to step in front of the smaller defender. From there, it’s an easy finish:
Take note of how many Lakers are under the rim, fully unable to make a defensive play on Gobert. There has to be better communication, or they’ll be allowing 48 points in the paint each night.
Los Angeles only accumulated 38 points in the middle, and that’s a huge problem when you consider they only attempted five 3-pointers. If they’re not getting into the lane and producing, and not scoring from deep, where are the points coming from? Mid-range, and mid-range only. That’s not a perfect way to live.
Again, with their pick-and-roll defense, the Lakers have been horrid in their rotations. It’s not always the middle they have to worry about guarding, neither. Even the silliest of mistakes is costing them wide open jumpers, which are normally being knocked down:
When Wayne Ellington gets hit with a screen by Gobert, Jeremy Tyler hedges strong to the ball handler, and they create a quick double team. As the ball is passed to the corner, Tyler recognizes that Gobert could get the ball in great one-on-one position down low, he rushes too quickly into the middle for help.
Steve Novak, a high-caliber shooter known for his time with the Knicks, flares to a wide-open position at the top of the key. Tyler is already in the process of helping on Gobert, and he can’t recover to Novak quickly enough. He literally looks like a chicken running around with his head cut off.
For Byron Scott and the sake of the team winning more than 30 games, they need to install more discipline on the defensive end.
Something has to give: You either limit the amount of easy, simplistic buckets by your opponents … or you match fire with fire, and shoot more triples. Clearly, taking more than 15 3-pointers per game isn’t something Scott wants to try this season. So, the buckling down better come defensively.
They have four games to get everything prepared and ready. The worst thing you want is to enter the regular season with no ounce of confidence in yourselves, and no victories under your belt. Perhaps it’s already gotten to this Lakers bunch.
Is the morale completely fading throughout the team after the blowout losses?
“I can sense it,” Jordan Hill said. “To have all these blowouts against these teams, it’s unacceptable. We still have a lot of things to work on.”
Luckily for the Lakers, some of the rookies and unexperienced players making mistakes out there, won’t be on the court when the regular season rolls around.