Los Angeles Lakers Deep Dive

By: Melo Williams 

The Lakers‘ first month and a half of the season have been a tale of two teams. The Lakers started the season in a slump and lost their first six before winning a game. The Lakers went 2-10 in the first 12 games. Since the first 12 games the Lakers are 8-2 in the last 10 games.

Since then the Lakers have made some adjustments to the roster, players have gotten healthy, and there seems to be some growing continuity between the Lakers Big 3 of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook.

Lately, the Lakers have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games. If it wasn’t for a game-winning buzzer-beater from the Indiana Pacers, the Los Angeles Lakers would’ve gone 9-1 in their last 10.

We’re going to take a deeper dive into the Los Angeles Lakers’ last 10 games:

COACH DARVIN HAM:

Overseeing it all while making the adjustments, and more importantly managing egos at the same time is Lakers head coach, Darvin Ham. Darvin has the Lakers believing in each other and has his leaders buying into what he’s selling. If the leader’s buy-in, the role players must do the same.

Ham has the Lakers defending exceptionally well with the results making the Lakers one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

The problem with the Lakers’ defense has been closing out games strong defensively in the 4th quarter. The Lakers have blown big leads in a few games largely due to a young inexperienced bench after being inserted into the game to give the starters and rotational players a rest, but it also gave some game-time experience for the young guys. So the Lakers’ defense is a little better than what the analytics says.

Best records in the last 10 games:

8-2 Celtics
8-2 Suns
8-2 Pelicans
8-2 Lakers

ANTHONY DAVIS:

AD has carried the Lakers for the last two weeks. He’s been an unstoppable dominating force. Not only have Lakers fans been loving the resurgence of AD, but current players and fans of the NBA have been in awe as well. over his last 10:

55 PTS – 17 REB – 3 BLK
44 PTS – 10 REB – 3 BLK
27 PTS – 12 REB – 3 BLK
25 PTS – 13 REB – 4 BLK
25 PTS – 15 REB – 3 BLK
37 PTS – 21 REB – 5 BLK
30 PTS – 18 REB – 3 STL
38 PTS – 16 REB – 4 BLK
37 PTS – 18 REB – 2 AST
24 PTS – 14 REB – 3 BLK

Darvin Ham on AD’s recent play:

“The foremost thing is health. I think he’s feeling great, he’s having fun playing the game of basketball pain-free, he’s not settling. He’s really attacking the rim, defending at a really high level.”

IMPROVED 3-POINT SHOOTING:

Coming into the season the biggest flaw and weakness of the Purple and Gold was shooting. It was no secret the Lakers didn’t have a pure shooter(s) surrounding LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.

The Lakers started the season ice-cold from the perimeter.

Now they are shooting 37.1% from 3 in the last 10 games, led by:

– Lonnie Walker IV: 46.9%
– LeBron James: 46.8% (6 games) – Austin Reaves: 46.7%
– Anthony Davis: 45.5%
– Wenyen Gabriel: 44.4%
– Troy Brown Jr.:   42.1%

RUSSELL WESTBROOK:

Brodie is probably the most important person that’s responsible for the Lakers’ turnaround, though Anthony Davis has been the most valuable player for the Lakers.

Russ is the most important player on the Lakers right now mainly because of his willingness to swallow his pride to become the Lakers 6th man.

Whatever Darvin Ham explained to Russ and how he explained why it would be meaningful for Russ to come off the bench, it worked because Westbrook has bought in fully and the results are noticeable in the numbers and eye test.

Though Ham has Westbrook’s minutes staggered in with the starters, most of Russ’s production is with the second team.

In Russ’s first three games of the season, he averaged around 10 points. Since accepting the 6th man role his points per game average increased a whole five points. Russell Westbrook is averaging 15.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game as the 6th man. His 7.7 assists make him the Lakers’ team leader in assists.

The biggest knock on Westbrook as a point guard would be turnovers. Russ has led the league in turnovers in four different seasons, but this season Westbrook has been protecting the ball much better.

Russell Westbrook’s improvement in the turnover area has been such a positive for not only the Lakers, but for himself as well, during the last 10 games, Russ had consecutive games without a turnover. It was the first time he’s had two consecutive games of 0 turnovers in his career.

If the 6th Man of the Year was voted on today, Russell Westbrook would be a finalist if not the winner of the award.

If Russ keeps buying in and continues to protect the ball playing under control and producing at a high level, the Lakers could not only make the playoffs but possibly make a run for it all.

However, if Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook remain healthy and continue playing at a high level, and the Lakers front office can make a move or two to bring in a couple of shooters, the Lakers will be a tough out and not the team you’d want to see in the first round of the playoffs.

I mean LeBron James is still on the roster and producing at a high level himself so anything is possible.

The Lakers have four games remaining on this road trip against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Detroit Pistons.

Then home for a three-game stand with matchups against the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, and the Washington Wizards.

The Lakers started the last 10-game stretch with a 116-103 win over the Brooklyn Nets in L.A. with other wins over the Blazers and Bucks. The other wins were over the Pistons, three wins over the Spurs, and one win over the Wizards. The losses came at the hands of the Phoenix Suns and Indiana Pacers.

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