With half of the NBA regular season behind us, we’ll take a look at where the Lakers are in the hierarchy of the West and how they’ve performed so far this season.
It has been a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs for the Lakers throughout the course of the first half of the season. After a hot start, including an 11-2 record in the month of November, they’ve come back down to Earth and have gone 11-13 since.
They’ve dealt with numerous injuries where players are consistently in and out of lineups game to game, a theme L.A. and the rest of the league have unfortunately endured in recent years.
LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves have only shared the floor eight times together this season, including the Christmas day game where Reaves had to exit at halftime due to a calf injury. James acknowledged the significance of Reaves’ absence in the postgame interview after last night’s matchup against the Clippers and said, “we’re missing an All Star”. Reaves is however expected to return sometime within the Lakers’ next 6 games where they’ll be on the road according to Coach JJ Redick.
The Stars
The Lakers stars, when available, have been nothing short of spectacular. Luka Doncic so far leads the NBA in points per game at 33.4 and has been one of the three main candidates for League MVP. He’s also averaging 8.7 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game. After ramping up and returning back to form, LeBron James has looked like his usual self as of late, averaging 25.5 points per game, 7.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists since the new year. And Austin Reaves has had an All Star-caliber year, averaging 26.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists.
The Curious Case of the Lakers’ Defense
While the Lakers have struggled defensively for most of the year, they’ve shown flashes of excellence on that side of the floor, especially in their last two games against the Nuggets and Clippers.
In Denver, the Lakers allowed the Nuggets to come out of the gate making 9 out of their 11 three pointers in the first quarter alone. The Nuggets scored 71 in just the first two quarters and were led by Jamal Murray who had 26 points at the half. L.A. was down by as much as 16 and rallied back with a furious defensive effort to start the 3rd quarter, only allowing Murray to score 2 points in the entire second half. They also held the Nuggets to just 36 second half points. L.A. would go on to win 115-107.
Their matchup against the Clippers played out very similarly despite the loss. The Lakers went down by as many as 26 points to the Clippers. Their defensive effort in the 2nd half was spearheaded by Marcus Smart and Jarred Vanderbilt, sparking the Lakers’ offense and allowed them to go on a 34-14 run, getting the deficit down to 2 points. Rui Hachimura even had several incredible defensive possessions thanks to the contagious fire and grit the Lakers had finally shown.
They’ve shown they can bring the intensity and energy defensively to make these comebacks but their consistency going forward is still in question and it is something they have unfortunately not shown to have through the first 43 games.
Grading the Lakers’ First 43 Games
The Lakers currently sit 2nd in the Pacific Division behind the Phoenix Suns and are 6th in the West, with 0.5 games separating the 4th and 7th seeds. They are 12-8 at home and 14-9 on the road.
Overall, despite the injuries, the Lakers have been a relatively good but not great team thus far. They’re a few steps away from real title contention as of now but the trade deadline can really shake things up leaguewide. They’re 13-2 in clutch games this season but most of their losses have unfortunately been by double digits and they currently are the only team with a negative point differential among the top 8 teams in the West.
Midseason Grade: B-
The Lakers will continue their 8-game road trip to take on the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, January 24th in what will be Luka’s second game in Dallas since the trade.
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