The Los Angeles Lakers' first trip to the Los Angeles Clippers' new arena, the Intuit Dome, did not go well. They lost to their L.A. rivals, 116-102, on Sunday night. The defeat prompted some interesting comments from LeBron James and coach JJ Redick.
"We don't have a huge margin for error," Redick admitted during his postgame press conference. "It has to be emphasized daily to touch the paint, to play paint-to-great mentality, make the extra pass. We don't have a guy on our team that's going to necessarily always draw two to the ball. We don't have a guy on our team that's going to be able to get past his guy one-on-one and get to the paint and spread it out to the perimeter. Like, that's just not our team. So we have to do it through connectivity, through execution. And when we do that, we're really good."
Indeed, the Lakers are 27th in the league in drives per game (37.9) and 23rd in catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts (24.6), on which they're shooting 35.8%, which ranks 24th. Overall, they're 27th in 3-point attempts (33.8) and 19th in percentage (35.3). They don't get up-and-down the floor either, and sit in 23rd in pace (98.26).
Instead, they get the ball inside through post-ups, where they're seventh in the league at 7.1 per game, and having the big man dive to the rim on pick-and-rolls. Their 8.1 "roll man" possessions per game are tied for third. And only the Philadelphia 76ers rely more heavily on getting to the line than the Lakers, who boast a .272 free throw rate.
Playing slow and relying so heavily on free throws and paint scoring is how you end up with games like the one against the Clippers where the Lakers actually shot 50% from the field, but still only managed 102 points and lost by double digits.
"That's how our team is constructed," James said when asked about Redick's remark. "We don't have room for error -- for much error."
"We don't have a choice," James continued. "I mean… that's the way our team is constructed. And we have to, we have to play close-to-perfect basketball."
But for all the questions about the Lakers' offensive personnel and approach, their defense has been the much bigger issue.
They got carved up by the Clippers in Sunday's defeat and are now 24th in the league in defensive rating (115.7). That is by far the worst mark among teams currently occupying a top-six spot in either conference and the only teams worse than them are all playing Capture the (Cooper) Flagg.
James' comments can certainly be read as a plea to the front office to make some more moves. But after sending D'Angelo Russell and Maxwell Lewis to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, the Lakers have lost some of their flexibility on that front. Plus, given James' age and the fact that they aren't an inner-circle contender, giving up any of their future first-round picks may not be wise.
Lakers beat reporter Jovan Buha said on Saturday that he's been hearing that things are "trending more toward them making a smaller move" ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
Barring a surprise blockbuster over the next few weeks, the Lakers' roster is going to remain imperfect, and they'll have to continue trying to play "close-to-perfect basketball" -- not an easy task in the highly competitive Western Conference. While they're currently in sixth, they're just 1.5 games ahead of the 11th-place Golden State Warriors.
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