NBA 2018-19 analysis: Reasons for Lakers struggles during their recent road trip
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most fun teams to watch this season. They started of their season with a 2-5 record but recovered brilliantly to turn their season around.
Lakers went 10-4 in the month of November and were one of the top teams in the NBA. Any team with LeBron James on it will be elite. They were also good on their home stretch during the month of December. They got good victories against the Mavericks, Suns and Spurs at the Staples Center. They had a blow out win in Memphis and then came back to the Staples Center to defeat the Miami Heat.
Since then, they have struggled to perform at a consistent level. The team became over reliant on the displays of James, Ball and Kuzma and went 1-3 on their recently concluded road trip. Two of those defeats were against the below par Wizards and Nets.
Here are the top three reasons for the Lakers struggles during the road trip:
#3 Lack of effort on Defense:
The Lakers have surprisingly been a very good defensive team this season. They have been a top 10 team in defensive rating. But they lacked execution on the defensive end of the floor during this road trip.
The Lakers conceded 126 points, 128 points and 115 points in their losses against the Rockets, Wizards and Nets respectively. They just could not get stops on the defensive end at any junction of the matches.
James Harden dropped a 50 point triple double on them. They struggled for the entire match to keep him from the free throw line. Even the struggling John Wall went off against them for 40 points and 14 assists performance.
The Lakers need to get back their defensive focus to compete in the Western Conference.