Opportunity Knocks |
by Mike Trudell |
On February 10th, the Lakers had a record of 25-31, which saw them in 13th place in the Western Conference. They'd needed to battle even to get to that point, after a 2-10 start.
And yet, by regular season's end on April 9, after a torrid stretch including 18 wins to just eight losses boosted by a huge trade deadline that brough in several talented players like D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura and Malik Beasley, the Lakers pushed themselves to a 43-39 record.
In doing so, they moved all the way up to the No. 7 seed, giving them the chance to win one home play-in game – against No. 8 Minnesota at 7 p.m. on April 11 – for the right to play a full seven-game series against No. 2 Memphis.
"It's great, man," said Darvin Ham. "We're just looking forward to the opportunity. Starting where we started at earlier in the year, now where we are, we're excited. Guys are ready to go. We've got great synergy in the locker room. Need to clean up some stuff defensively, but outside of that, we’re ready." |
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| The defense has indeed slipped a bit in the last week, albeit while playing against teams in Utah and Phoenix that weren't playing their typical lineups, giving the games a different feel. Anthony Davis, who has a strong argument for being the NBA's best defensive player, thinks they'll sharpen up for the Wolves. |
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"We had a conversation about getting back to who we are defensively, being that top team defensively that we want to be, which has helped us win a lot of basketball games since the trade," said Davis after Monday's practice. "Getting back to that, playing with a little more effort, more energy. One shot...defensive rebounding. Getting back to the scrappiness that we've been used to playing with to help us get out in transition where we're at our best."
The play-in format is still new, though the Lakers do have some experience, having won the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game in 2021 vs. Golden State, a game that featured a dagger three from LeBron James.
In the postseason, you have multiple days to prep for a team, but you just have one day to prep," said LeBron. "For us, it's just good that we don't have to travel. It's good that we get to stay here, but you shouldn't be comfortable. You have to stay on edge and get ready for the game."
Since the trade deadline, L.A. has posted the NBA's 6th-best net rating (4.8), and tied for the 2nd-most wins with Boston (18), trailing only Philadelphia (20). They have the No. 2-rated defense in that stretch, and the 14th-best offense. |
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| Their opponent on Tuesday is facing some serious adversity, meanwhile. During their season finale against New Orleans on Sunday, Rudy Gobert threw a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson. That led to Gobert being sent home at halftime, and subsequently being suspended for Tuesday night's game. Meanwhile, Jaden McDaniels, the primary defender on LeBron from a Lakers victory on March 31, suffered a broken hand by punching a wall, ending his season. |
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The Wolves were already thin up front, with Naz Reid's season ending prior to that last Lakers matchup with a broken wrist. They still have a potent offensive starting lineup with Towns at the five, Anthony Edwards featured on the wing, Mike Conley at PG and veterans Kyle Anderson and Taurean Prince stepping into the vacant starting spots. But that thins out their bench, and really limits the type of rim protection they can offer, with late second-round-pick rookie Luka Garza and undrafted Nathan Knight as bench options.
Minnesota can certainly provide a threat that the Lakers haven't seen much of this season, with KAT picking and popping from the three-point line, trying to bring Anthony Davis and the Lakers' other bigs out of the paint, thus opening up driving lanes for Edwards. The Wolves will also try to keep the Lakers out of the paint with collapsing team defense, hoping they'll settle for jump shots. Attacking the rim, after all, is where the Lakers can really do a ton of damage. |
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| For the 2022-23 season, the Lakers ranked sixth in the NBA in points in the paint (54.5), and first in free throw attempts (26.6). The Wolves were also prominent in paint points at No. 8 (54.2), though a chunk of that was due to the Gobert screen-roll action when he inevitably rolled to, and often finished at, the rim. Where the Wolves drop off from L.A. is in free throw rate, as they ranked 16th in free throw attempts (23.7). |
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Since LeBron and AD became teammates in Los Angeles, opponents have always tried to keep them out of the paint. It's just...very hard to do. And while some lineups prior to the trade deadline that lacked spacing around L.A.'s star duo did make things more difficult, the presence of skill guards D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves makes it even harder to contain the Lakers' constant pursuit of the rim.
In short, the Lakers are 48 minutes away from giving themselves a real chance to make a postseason run.
Given where things were as recently as two months ago, that's a fantastic opportunity, and one that's well within their reach. |
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