MINNEAPOLIS — Just over a week ago, the Lakers’ mission was clear. But what has transpired over the last week has been a reversal of what was desired.
The Lakers’ offense was humming coming off a frustrating 119-118 home loss to the Orlando Magic on Nov. 21 that ended their six-game winning streak. Their 118.3 offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) ranked No. 4 through the first 15 games, delivering on the belief that the Lakers could be an elite offensive team. They scored at least 110 points in seven of eight games through the loss to the Magic and 12 of the first 15 games, helping them to a 10-5 record.
The next step was clear: improve on the defensive end of the court, with the Lakers’ defensive rating of 117.4 in the first 15 games ranking 26th.
The Lakers accomplished their goal: their defense has improved, with a defensive rating of 114.9 in their past six games (19th), including 109.8 (12th) in their last four.
But it’s come at a cost – their once elite offense has fallen off significantly over the last week-plus, most evident in their 109-80 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
“It’s very frustrating,” All-Star big man Anthony Davis said. “We were really good offensively and our defense was a problem and we kind of start just focusing on defense and now our offense is kind of shifted. So we got to get back to how we were [at] the beginning of the year, playing on both sides of the ball very well.
“The good thing about it is, offensively it doesn’t take that much to get back going. Defense is a little bit tougher. So with the guys that we have in this locker room, I think we will be fine to figure it out.”
The Lakers’ offensive rating has plummeted to 102.4 in their past six games for the league’s third-worst mark (28th) in that stretch.
The absence of Austin Reaves, the team’s third-leading scorer who has missed the last two games because of a bruised left pelvis and is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game in Miami, has impacted the offense.
But the Lakers’ offensive regression started before Reaves’ injury.
The ball and player movement has taken a notable dip compared to earlier in the season. The Lakers are passing fewer times per game during this offensive lull.
Old habits have replaced the ones Coach JJ Redick tried to replace with an offensive system that values player and ball movement.
“I feel like the offense was fun,” Redick said. “I really believe we’ve gotten better defensively. We’ve spent a lot of time as a staff defensively. And this is the nature of the NBA season. You don’t have a ton of time. The things you emphasize, hopefully you get better at. And sometimes when you don’t emphasize something, or you don’t work on something because you don’t necessarily have time, or you think you’re good at it and you think you have buy-in at it, you just get slippage. We gotta clean that up.”
To LeBron James, the Lakers improving their offense will come down to investing similar energy as they did to improve their defense.
“Just watching the film and seeing ways we can do better,” James said. “We did that a lot when we wanted to get our defense corrected and we corrected it. You spend a little bit more time on offense things too.”
LAKERS AT HEAT
When: Wednesday, 4:30 p.m.
Where: Kaseya Center, Miami
TV/radio: NBA TV, Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM