LOS ANGELES — The Lakers’ season can be defined by their seesaw of performances on both ends of the floor, not having consistent stretches of playing at a high level offensively and defensively simultaneously.
So now as their offense has started to dig itself out of a rut, it’s their performances on the less glamorous end on the floor that have taken a slide – a reality coach JJ Redick acknowledged after the team’s 126-102 home loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.
Monday’s loss marked the third consecutive game, all losses, the Lakers have allowed their opponent to score at least 118 points:
• 119-115 loss to the Houston Rockets on Jan. 5;
• 118-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 7;
• and Monday’s loss to the Spurs.
The Lakers allowed their opponents to score 118 or more points just twice in the previous 11 games before their three-game skid entering Wednesday’s home game against the Miami Heat.
Their 129.2 defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) is the league’s worst mark among teams’ last three games. They had a 108.2 defensive rating from Dec. 8-Jan. 3, the league’s sixth-best mark during that stretch, after having the league’s fourth-worst defense rating (118.6) from Nov. 19-Dec. 6.
“We’ve had for three games now, real slippage defensively,” Redick said. “And we were, whatever it was, 12, 13 games, a top-10 defense, trending in that direction until these last three games.
“We’ll review this game. There’s obviously some stuff from Dallas and Houston that probably is pertinent to this game as well. And as much as we’ll prep Wednesday for Miami, we’ll focus on the group and where we can improve defensively, and that’s both film and on the court.”
The Lakers’ lack of defensive rebounding against the Rockets – Houston grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and scored 28 second-chance points – hurt them in that matchup.
The Mavericks hunting Austin Reaves in isolation situations defensively, plus the Lakers’ subpar low-man/help defense, upended them in Dallas.
But against the Spurs, it was San Antonio’s adjustment with attacking the Lakers’ switching defense that hurt them.
The Lakers allowed the Spurs to score 66 points in the paint (33-of-49 shooting inside the paint) after San Antonio entered Monday averaging 45.6 paint points.
“[Chris Paul] is a Hall of Fame point guard so he just started manipulating the game,” Lakers forward Dorian Finney-Smith said. “He started trying to put different matchups on bigger guys and they weave and it caused us to overreact and they get a corner 3, or even if they missed the shot, they were getting the offensive rebound.”
The Spurs also scored 19 second-chance points. Forty-four of their paint points came in the second half.
“They made adjustments,” Finney-Smith added. “They [saw] we were switching so it seemed like once we got [Anthony Davis] on the perimeter, they started attacking the basket. And it worked out well.”
Monday was the Lakers’ first game since six days after their previous two home games – Thursday against the Charlotte Hornets and Saturday against the Spurs – were canceled because of the wildfires in Southern California.
A lack of sharpness wasn’t surprising.
But Monday’s performance continued a troubling defensive trend, which the Lakers are hoping to turn around.
“I always try to give grace to myself, the staff or players,” Redick said. “Doesn’t mean you don’t critique and it doesn’t mean you don’t tell the truth.”
HEAT AT LAKERS
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM