The Lakeshow Review

Following an impressive road win in Toronto, that saw the team walk-off at the buzzer, the Lakers made their way to Boston to take on the bitter rival Celtics. One would have hoped that they would have preserved enough energy in the tank after the Raptors performance, but unfortunately, the team found themselves playing on fumes and couldn’t muster the energy to overcome Boston’s tenacity. The Celtics beat the Lakers handily, by a final score of 126-105, as the Purple and Gold ran out of answers. The Lakers were playing shorthanded, given the absence of Marcus Smart (still recovering from back spasms) and LeBron James (who was rested on the second night of a back-to-back). Luka Dončić also sat out for a second night, following the birth of his child. The Celtics were also playing minus their biggest star Jayson Tatum, yet it was Boston who found that extra gear and managed to pull through in front of their home crowd. The Lakers will now look to regroup, as they hopefully start to get some pieces back through the remainder of the road trip.

Boston got off to a scorching start, as LA looked to be getting their legs back after a short turnaround from their previous matchup. It didn’t help that the Lakers were lazy with their closeout rotations all night, often over-helping while inadvertently giving up another advantage. Boston opened a quick 11-3 lead, which spelled the type of night we were in store for. They’d go on to win the first quarter 39-17, as the Lakers looked unfocused and disorganized, failing to get their offense humming early on.

Boston would never trail in this game, as they went on to balloon their lead to 29 points at one point in the second quarter. Derrick White had himself a big night at LAs expense, scoring 19 points on five triples. While veteran star Jaylen Brown was also sensational, dropping 30 points to go with eight boards and eight assists. Boston was seemingly hitting everything, while the Lakers seemed uninterested in dialling up the right intensity or adjustments to try to cool them off. The team was clearly going through the motions, at the behest of a much more focused opponent. LA trailed big at the halftime marker, 69-46.

Austin Reaves, following a slow start, did his best to try and get LA back in the game, with a robust 16-point third quarter. But Jaylen Brown killed off any momentum, answering with three consecutive treys to ensure Boston’s cushion was still intact. Outside of AR, no one really showed up. Guard Gabe Vincent had the odd 18 points, after he was given the starting nod. Reaves himself had another stellar 36 point, eight assist outing. Yet, LA could not get the necessary complimentary performances from the rest of their rotation, like they did versus the Raptors. Jake LaRavia, who was also slotted into the starting unit, only scored six points, while Deandre Ayton managed a disappointing six points and 10 rebound effort. Rui Hachimura scored a steady 13 points, but alas, no game-winning heroics for him tonight.

As AR sat to open the fourth, Boston went on a swift 9-0 run, and pushed their lead up for good, effectively making it garbage time for the final minutes of action. The Lakers’ main issue all night was on the defensive side. Their drop coverage was sloppy, often allowing the roll man to get behind the play and in position for a lob. Their soft switching also continues to be an issue, as they’ve made it a habit to haemorrhage wide open threes to the opposition. Whether it’s in hand-off, or ball screen actions, the Lakers simply aren’t playing with enough force at the level of the screen in order to disrupt the action. Boston made a season-high 24 three-pointers, and LA did little in the way of adjustments in order to put out the fire. Furthermore, their tendency to flood on the strong side and over-help often puts them at a disadvantage when rotating as they don’t have the athletes on the perimeter that can quickly cover long spaces. Moving forward it’s rather evident that the team will have to upgrade their defensive personnel in order to play the type of defense where players can stay at home, and not worry too much about helping. In the meantime, an uptick in effort would go a long way. The Lakers often get caught ball-watching, becoming susceptible to off-ball cuts that lead to easy scores. Moreover, they should be more competitive in denying the switch. Often, when opponents try to matchup-hunt, LA meekly surrenders the switch. More aggression, focus and discipline are needed at the point of the screen, in order to mitigate pointless switching that only leads to bad matchups.

With that said, the Lakers will have the chance to regroup and get back to business tomorrow when they take on the Philadelphia 76ers. It’s important that they bring back the tenacity on defense that has gotten them to one of the best records in the Western Conference thus far. Xs and Os are one thing, but competition and effort are always the key regardless of the team’s skill level or personnel. So far, the team has shown a propensity to come back strong following a tough loss. This wasn’t a bad loss, per se, although any loss to Boston is by definition a bad one. However, the team was playing shorthanded, and didn’t seem to have the energy to match their opponents’ intensity. Now they’ll get their legs under them, and will presumably continue to get stronger, as they’ll get LeBron back, and possibly Luka. Either way, we should expect to see an improved effort from the team, as they’re in the midst of a road trip, where there’s no time to relax. Their last homestand ended on a sour note, so maybe this road trip can end on a good one. If the team so chooses to take the right strides. Go Lakers.