NBA Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers’ Defense is Officially Unfixable

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By @JosephMCrevier

Carlos Boozer

Kevin C. Cox-Getty Images

Coming off two straight road victories, the Los Angeles Lakers finally showed signs of life after a miserable (1-9) start. Though the wins are only hindering the team’s chances at a top-five draft pick, they certainly provided a much-needed morale boost for a livid Kobe Bryant, in particular. The Lakers allowed a mere 100.5 points per game, way below the season mark, until the train fell off the rail vs. the red hot Dallas Mavericks. Dallas won in convincing fashion with a final score of 140-106, recording a jaw-dropping 68 points in the first half prior to eclipsing the 100-point mark with three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

This embarrassing defensive efforts has been a trend throughout the brief season as Los Angeles ranks in the bottom three of every major statistical category: 30th in opponent points per game (110.2), 29th in opponent field-goal percentage (48.5 percent) and 28th in opponent three-point percentage (40.7 percent). Defense is paramount to a team’s success no matter the offensive personnel, so the Lakers’ record is makes sense considering these constant defensive lapses. What’s even more humiliating is that some of these players are veterans, specifically Carlos Boozer.

Boozer’s an interesting case since he played under defensive specialist Tom Thibodeau for four years, leading me to believe it’s a matter of effort at this point. He constantly overlooks the fundamentals of defense, missing vital rotations more often than not. Boozer may be the easiest target, but at the end of the day the entire roster is responsible for a defense that is officially beyond repair.

Head coach Byron Scott was brought in as Mike D’Antoni‘s successor, hoping to shore up the historically bad defense with evidently little success. Luckily, the team will ultimately benefit from the lack of effort as they will likely wind up securing that top-five protected pick traded to the Phoenix Suns in the Steve Nash deal. It just so turns out that there are several talented behemoth centers who can pay dividends to the organization in the long-term.

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