When you’re out of town for two weeks, the packing list is long. The Lakers brought four variations of their uniforms, packed in bag after bag in a huge trailer.
But what can help most is to bring defense, starting with Thursday’s game against the league’s top scorer.
The Lakers are ready for another convincing showdown with the Milwaukee Bucks (9-5), a team that started another season with astronomical offensive numbers (an offensive rating of 117.7) and a promising offer to finally reach the NBA finals behind two. instead MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. With LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it’s a headline match with three of the NBA’s best players.
But what coach Frank Vogel asked during Wednesday’s film session was more attention protecting the basket: with fewer traditional centers patrolling the painting, the Lakers are more dependent than ever on defensive rotations and the bad guys on their scheme are not pulling your weight.
“I would say that the last games, three or four games, although we won, were not done at a level high enough for my taste,” he said. “It is something that we will improve on. We’re doing a good general job on that side of the ball, but you can always improve. ”
It is a responsibility that is generally attributed to the great men of the Lakers by the baseline, including Davis and James. When drivers achieve penetration, they need to swing inward to challenge the shots in the rim. It is one of the reasons why Davis has had at least three blocks in seven of his last eight games.
As far as blocking is concerned, this year’s Lakers (6.5 bpg) are not far from their 2019-20 mark (best in the 6.6 bpg league). But it is not a number that tells the whole story. Last season, they allowed 58.9 percent of pitches within the 5-foot mark, which was the fourth best in the NBA. This season, they are allowing 59.7% of pitches within 5 feet (13th in the league) – and 61% in the last five games.
Monday night saw the problem rise to the top against the Golden State. Of the Warriors’ 24 baskets in the second half, 14 came less than 3 feet from the edge. Even for a Lakers team without the rim protection from last year’s squad, this is not a good figure. Clips of these moves to the edge show indecision, confusion, or even inaction by Lakers players assigned to challenge drivers on the edge as the last line of defense.
It was the focal point of the Lakers’ morning training before flying to Milwaukee to begin their seven-game, 12-day journey.
“The short man has not been as good as he has been all season,” said striker Kyle Kuzma. “So little scarcity, but it’s something we have to go back to.”
The opening game against the Bucks will be a stress test: Milwaukee is one of the best finishing teams within 5 feet (65.3 percent, fifth in the NBA) thanks in large part to Antetokounmpo. There are few players who can put as much pressure on the rim as the 1.80m striker, who is known for his violent dash towards the basket, and Milwaukee’s attack incorporated a player into the “dunker” mark at the base line, waiting for attack if Antetokounmpo attracts too much help and passes out.
It will require, perhaps more than anything, discipline – something that the Lakers did not always show during the start of the 11-4 season. Vogel said he could see how the disappointment of the fourth period against the Golden State could inspire some additional effort from his group, even if he wishes it wasn’t necessary.
“If you’re thinking about something that will make us nervous when we get into that Milwaukee game, maybe there is something there,” he said. “But I think that when you’re playing against one of the best teams in the league, you’re going to play anyway.”
MATTHEWS RETURNS TO STATE OF ORIGIN, OLD TEAM
Wisconsin is where Wes Matthews grew up; that’s where he went to college in Marquette; last year, it was the place where he returned to play, winning 56 games in the regular season. And yet, for most of his career, Matthews said, it was also a stop on the road – meaning that a homecoming is not as much like a homecoming as you might think.
“Honestly, it’s a business trip. That’s how I’m attacking, ”he said. “Except for a year, Milwaukee has always been a road game for me.”
The 34-year-old was a starter and a valuable side piece for the Bucks last season, but he quietly downplayed the significance of the confrontation. When asked if it was a test for the league leader Lakers, he said that each game on the schedule represents a test. When asked about two tilts with the Lakers last season, who were seen as potential previews of the Finals, Matthews said he simply wanted to beat them all.
Perhaps the most insightful perspective on Matthews’ management was offered by his former teammates. Khris Middleton said that Matthews is valued for his selfless play, for being focused on defensive effort and victory, rather than how many times he has touched the ball. Matthews had a voice in the Bucks locker room that carried weight both on and off the court – he was one of the main figures involved when the team decided not to compete in the Orlando playoff after Jacob Blake’s shot.
“You can say that it really hit him, because it happened in his backyard, in his home state, a place that he spent many years growing up,” said Middleton. “He definitely expressed his opinion about how hurt he was about everything that happened. And he is still preaching and fighting for his community ”.
Matthews said he remains socially active in Wisconsin. He said President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday helped him hope that times of division in America may be changing, but he also said he has no plans to abandon calls for social change.
“This will always be home. I will always have roots there, ”he said. “I will always be pushing for the improvement of the state, which I am proud to claim. That doesn’t change, whatever the uniform, whatever the state I’m living in, the city I’m living in. The effort will continue. We need an effort to continue ”.