The Los Angeles Lakers have a new head coach and a new defensive scheme, and the same old problems with transition defense. Sunday night, the opposing coach bailed them out.
The Lakers allow 1.2 points per possession in transition, the third-worst mark in the NBA. Monday, when LeBron James missed a three-pointer with the Lakers leading by a point, Collin Sexton of the Utah Jazz grabbed the rebound and drove down for a go-ahead layup — only to see it waved off when Jazz coach Will Hardy called a timeout before his shot.
Los Angeles held on for the 105-104 win, but the play was emblematic of the team’s poor transition defense that’s been a problem for the last four seasons. The Lakers give up 26.1 transition points per game, fourth-worst in the NBA.
Last year they ranked fourth-worst with 24 points per game, in 2022-23, they were fourth-worst with 23.4 transition points and in 2021-22, they were the NBA’s second-worst transition defense team, with 22 points per game.
That abysmal transition defense performance spans three head coaches, from Frank Vogel to Darvin Ham to JJ Redick. The common thread is the team’s personnel. LeBron James is still an excellent offensive player, but as he gets older, he’s less and less inclined to hustle back on defense. And more likely to jaw with the officials.
Of course, James is also one month away from his 40th birthday. The much younger Anthony Davis also has a habit of walking back on defense and teams have exploited this by trying to run against the Lakers, even off of made baskets.
It’s the team’s biggest flaw, particularly because they can defend well in the half court. Davis is an excellent rim protector, but he has to actually make it down to the basket to do so. It does help the Lakers overall that the team shoots 47.9% from the field, minimizing the amount of misses, but they don’t particularly get offensive rebounds (26th in total offensive boards, 25th in offensive rebound percentage).
It’s simply a dangerous way to play. The Lakers are effectively giving up free points every game, either due to fatigue or lack of effort.
Maybe the team needs to rest its stars and keep them fresh. But they also need James and Davis to lead by example. If the superstars aren’t getting back on defense, it’s hard to expect the role players to hustle enough to cover for them.
Or expect the opposing coach to save them with an ill-advised timeout.