EL SEGUNDO — One of the Lakers’ problems from their 120-107 road loss to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night – 3-point defense – wasn’t exclusive to that defeat.
Or this stretch of games since the All-Star break.
It’s an issue that has been magnified over the last few weeks, especially in the Lakers’ losses.
“Went through the [Sacramento] film and just some different things we could work on,” Coach Darvin Ham said after Friday’s practice. “Mixed in how we’ve been playing here as of late with some clips from Minnesota, whatever.
“But for the most part, just looking at how we can slow down the generation of 3s that are being piled on us.”
For the season, the Lakers allow opponents to make 14.1 3-pointers per game (the NBA’s third-worst mark). Laker opponents attempt 37.1 3-point shots per game (the third-most in the league) and convert 37.9% of them (the sixth-worst).
In the 11 games since the break, a stretch when the Lakers have gone 6-5 entering Saturday’s marquee home game against the Golden State Warriors, opponents have made 14.9 3-pointers (third-most) and shot 39% (third-worst) from behind the arc.
Part of the Lakers’ 3-point defense woes are by design – a tradeoff with prioritizing protecting the paint.
They allow opponents to attempt a league-most 21.9 “wide-open” 3-point attempts – when the closest defender is at least 6 feet away from the shooter.
Opponents have attempted 23.1 wide-open 3s against the Lakers since the break. This includes the 24 the Kings attempted on Wednesday, making half (12) of those attempts as part of a 19-for-41 3-point shooting night.
The Lakers were often a step behind with trailing 3-point shooters around screens or overhelped on the Kings’ paint touches, leaving shooters open.
“That was one of the things we touched on,” Ham said. “Once we get the ball stopped in the paint, now shifting our vision, getting into scramble mode. We got two guys on the ball, 2½. We shut the ball down in the paint, the other two loose guys, we gotta start finding shooters.
“Nothing is easy with the way offenses are being played in the league now. But it makes it easier when you do your work early. You start in position, so now you’re not playing catch up. If I start in the paint and I’m showing my chest and the ball handler can see that there’s support behind the initial defender, once they start making passes, it’s [easier] to recover and get good contests or run them off the 3-point line.”
Tightening the 3-point defense will be especially important against the Warriors, who are top-10 in both 3-point attempts (39.5; third-most) and percentage (37.5%; ninth).
“They have a lot of off-ball movement so we just got to focus on that,” forward Rui Hachimura said. “We can’t relax on the defensive help side, especially me. I’m going to be there a lot on the help side so I just got to focus on that.”
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Saturday will be the 11th time the Lakers and Warriors have played each other in the last 11 months, counting last spring’s Western Conference semifinals matchup (which the Lakers won in six games), a pair of preseason games and two matchups earlier this season in San Francisco.
The Lakers (36-31) are one game ahead of the Warriors (34-31) for the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference standings.
“It’s a big game for us,” Hachimura said. “It’s going to be big. We played them so many times. So, we know each other well. So we just got to – it’s more so like, who wants it more? We got to show the emotion and try to get this one.”
WARRIORS AT LAKERS
When: Saturday, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/radio: ABC (Ch. 7)/710 AM