The Lakers Are (Finally) Playing To Their Strengths
The Lakers’ gears are starting to turn. After a tumultuous start, they are playing their brand of basketball. It’s working.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been a model of inconsistency this season. Their roster, put together overnight by Rob Pelinka, couldn’t gel. Lebron was using up all his youth elixir to keep things afloat, but nothing was working. The shooting was awful. The spacing was awkward. Russell Westbrook is straight-up terrible. To make things worse, AD has missed a majority of the season.
With all those hurdles, the Lakers were failing to clear the bar. Last night against the Hawks, their fourth straight win, was a statement. The Lakers played small, fast, and beat the crap out of the Hawks for 48 minutes. It was a return to their dominance when they won a championship.
After weeks of inconsistency, it looks like the Lakers are turning the ship away from the iceberg. Here’s how they’re doing it.
The Rotation
The main criticism I have had of Frank Vogel has been his rotation this season. I’ll admit one thing; the Lakers don’t have a great rotation. Even when Anthony Davis and Kendrick Nunn return from injury, I won’t be in love with their options. All things the same, Vogel hasn’t been great this season.
DeAndre Jordan used to get consistent minutes. There were times where Malik Monk wasn’t playing enough. Kent Bazemore? There’s a reason Lakers fans want this man ejected straight into the Suns like Del Harris. Over the last four games, Vogel has done great things with the rotation.
Lakers Rotation Over The Last Four Games
Lebron James (35.4 minutes – 4 GS)
Russell Westbrook (32.1 minutes – 4 GS)
Avery Bradley (24.6 minutes – 4 GS)
Stanley Johnson (21.1 minutes – 3 GS)
Trevor Ariza (16.3 minutes – 1 GS)
Talen Horton-Tucker (27.1 minutes)
Carmelo Anthony (23.5 minutes)
Austin Reaves (22.2 minutes)
Malik Monk (33.6 minutes – 1 GS)
The Lakers have found some continuity in the starting lineup. Avery Bradley and Stanley Johnson have proven to be great defensive compliments to Lebron and Westbrook. Malik Monk started last night, giving the offense an actual playmaker.
Frank Vogel has figured out a rotation that works. Stanley Johnson acted as the center last night against the Hawks. While that seems counterintuitive against the Hawks, and it was at times, it was a great plan. With less size comes more speed. It worked like a charm.
Finding a rotation that works was a big hurdle for the Lakers. Things will become awkward again when AD returns, but for now, the Lakers have figured things out. Now let’s talk about this new style of play.
New Style of Play
If you’re up to date with your Lakers coach lore, I’ll put things simply.
The Lakers’ offense over the last four games has exploded. After being a middling offense for the entire season, the Lakers have averaged 125.8 points over their last four contests, all wins. So what gives? Why are the Lakers suddenly the Utah Jazz on offense?
- Less Westbrook = Better Lakers
I believe it was Socrates who said, “If thou does not turneth the ball over, more points will be scored.” If a Greek guy said, it has to be true. The Lakers have not been a team that cares about ball security. They average 15.3 turnovers for the season, 26th in the league.
During this winning streak, they’ve averaged just 9.5, second in the league. A big reason for this is Russell Westbrook taking a backseat on offense.
| Russell Westbrook Touches (2022) | Russell Westbrook Touches (Last 4 Games) |
| 83.8 touches | 72.3 touches |
| 31.9 Frontcourt Touches | 24.3 Frontcourt Touches |
| 4.6 Turnovers | 4.0 Turnovers |
I don’t consider myself a Westbrook hater, but using him this way is better. When Westbrook doesn’t the ball as much, he isn’t as harmful to the offense. Don’t get me wrong, Westbrook has had his moments this season. But with his name in trade talks, I think this is the best way to use him.
As the great Socrates said, “If thou does not turneth the ball over, more points will be scored.” The Lakers are using his great words to their advantage.
- Return To Form Defensively
The biggest strength of the Lakers when they won their title in 2020 was their defense. That vaunted defense shut down everybody in all areas of the floor. I’m not any sort of genius when I say the Lakers have mismanaged this side of the ball over the past two seasons.
Danny Green, Alex Caruso, and JaVale McGee were allowed to walk even after playing important roles on that title-winning squad. Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley took one-year hiatuses from the team.
No less, the Lakers are back on the defensive side of the ball. They are back to playing elite defense, spurring their offense into a frenzy. Here’s everything I noticed last night against the Hawks;
The Lakers decide to get the ball out of Trae Young’s hands (a good idea). From there, they do a great job of rotating to the remaining Hawks on the perimeter. Midway through this clip, in the top corner, you see Trevor Ariza barking at Bradley to get to Reddish in the corner.
That type of closeout is one of the undefinable qualities of NBA defenses. Not just the communication on this play, but the closeout itself. There’s a major difference between a wide-open three and a slightly open three. Bradley’s baseline to baseline effort here forces the miss.
The Lakers have been forcing 16.5 turnovers during their winning streak. This one is pure art any way you slice it.
The Lakers again blitz the Hawks’ pick-and-roll. As the ball gets passed to the corner, the Lakers do a great job rotating. Lebron rotates from the corner, getting an easy steal as the Hawks try to get Capela the ball.
While that is happening, look underneath the rim. Avery Bradley comes down to take away a Collins cut to the rim. In a world where Lebron doesn’t get this easy steal, Collins doesn’t get a free dunk.
The Hawks weren’t listening to the great Socrates in this game, where they committed 15 turnovers leading to 28 points off turnovers for LA.
Would the Lakers have done this at the start of the season?
I’ll leave that question right there for the masses.
- Shooting
I’ve broken down film, looked at a player’s amount of touches, and reference Socrates as to why the Lakers are playing better. This one isn’t hard to follow. The Lakers have been shooting better.
They shot a scorching 41.5% from distance last night, nailing 17 threes against the Hawks. LA has been shooting 38.8% from three during this winning streak.
When the Lakers are shooting well, they are impossible to stop. Instead of deploying THT, they’ve done the smart thing and put Malik Monk into more of a scoring role. Unlike THT, Monk can score from the perimeter.
He drilled seven 3’s last night, scoring 29 minutes in 35 minutes. Monk is a flamethrower who was signed to a meager one-year contract this offseason. How that’s possible, the world will never know.
I believe it was also Socrates who said, “More shooteth is equivalent to a more efficienteth offense.” Again, he’s Greek, so that’s right.
Is All This Sustainable?
This is the million-dollar question on the mind of every fair-weather Lakers fan out there. Can the Lakers continue to play well? The short answer is yes.
I think the Lakers have found a way to win. I know beating the Hawks isn’t that impressive, but their level of play has greatly improved recently. The weird, sluggish rotation has spat out a smaller, faster, improved one. The defense has been great, the offense even better.
Even with all their hurdles, the Lakers are turning the ship around. The days until Anthony Davis returns are unknown, but that’s the next challenge. Continuing this level of play when AD returns.
It might have taken them 40 games, but the Lakers have figured things out. Damn it.
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