Lakers' four-game losing streak features a few trends
Only a week ago, the Lakers appeared nearly invincible. They rattled off victory after victory. Andrew Bynum grabbed rebound after rebound. Ron Artest seemed more engaged. And Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom continued playing at a consistent rate, an ingredient surely needed once the postseason starts.
But that was last week. Since then, the Lakers have lost four consecutive games and have left fans scratching their heads how they could go from looking brilliant to overwhelmingly bad. The Lakers have a secure spot in the postseason, but that's not the barometer to measure the defending champions.
With the magnitude of trying to three-peat and appear in four consecutive NBA Finals, it's fair to question why the Lakers' effort has fallen so steeply, especially considering that the games significantly affect the playoff landscape. The Lakers (55-24) now have no chance to overtake San Antonio (60-19) for the top spot in the West and can't eclipse Eastern Conference leader Chicago (59-20). They are tied with the Boston Celtics (55-24) and Miami Heat (55-24), having the tie-breaker over the Celtics, while the Heat have the advantage over the Lakers.
They also have slim one-game and two-game leads, respectively, over the Dallas Mavericks (54-25) and Oklahoma City Thunder (53-26), meaning it's conceivable the Lakers could drop to a fourth seed if they don't get their act together.
The Lakers presumably would take that step in their remaining games Sunday against the Thunder, Tuesday against the Spurs and Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings. But many thought they already would have righted the ship after losing a few games. Below the jump are a few variables on what the Lakers can begin to fix.
Turnovers: When Lakers guard Kobe Bryant examined the team's 25 remaining games following the All-Star break, the main variable Bryant found that would determine the team's development would involve "minimizing mistakes." That area mostly points to turnovers, a statistic that reflects a team's mishandling of the ball, stagnant ball movement, over-dribbling and carelessness in recognizing the opposing team's defensive tendencies.
The Lakers' 17-1 mark after the All-Star break marked a 13-game stretch in which they committed fewer turnovers than their opponent, the team's longest streak since the NBA began officially tracking turnovers in 1970 and the longest by any NBA team since Cleveland had fewer turnovers than its opponent in 13 consecutive games in the 2008-09 season. But the Lakers have committed 73 turnovers in the past four games, an average of 18.25 per contest.
Poor shooting: The Lakers have shot 134 of 329 (40.7%) from the field and 24 of 72 from three-point range (33.3%) in those four games, but the latter statistic is a tad misleading because the Lakers shot 40% from three-point range against Portland. In the three losses to Denver, Utah and Golden State, the Lakers went four of 18, four of 20 and five of 19, respectively.
This is an obvious sign pointing to poor ball movement. The Lakers, with the exception of the first month of the season, haven't been a strong three-point shooting team, so there should be no reason why they'd be firing so many shots from the perimeter. You can point at Bryant, who has shot a combined 36 of 80, though his latter two performances featured a 50% clip against Golden State and come-from-behind efforts in the fourth quarter against the Warriors and in the second quarter against Portland.
Instead of boasting a talented team that can feature numerous offensive options, the Lakers instead have taken turns in certain players having bad shooting stretches. That includes Lakers forward Luke Walton going zero of four against Utah, Ron Artest shooting a combined five of 21 against Golden State and Portland, Derek Fisher shooting two of nine against Golden State, Steve Blake going zero of five against Golden State, Shannon Brown shooting a combined four of 16 against Golden State and Portland, and Pau Gasol going four of 11 against Portland. All of these players except for Gasol shoot perimeter shots, meaning this is further evidence that the Lakers are settling for long-range shots instead of working the ball inside.
The poor shooting has also extended to the free-throw line. For how poorly the Lakers played in all four games, the Lakers could’ve beaten the Jazz had Fisher gone better than zero of three from the line. As efficient as Gasol and Bynum were in the post against Golden State, shooting a combined 12 of 16 from the field, they combined for a seven of 15 mark from the free-throw line. And even though the Lakers still would’ve trailed, it would’ve been nice had Bryant shot better than zero of three from the stripe in the Lakers’ loss to Portland.
Late-game miscues: The Lakers could’ve secured victories against Denver and Utah at least if not for late-game miscues. Against Denver, Odom failed to box out and allowed Kenyon Martin to score a putback on a missed free throw; that bucket secured a 95-90 victory. Had Odom grabbed the rebound, the Lakers would’ve had a chance to tie the game and force overtime. Against Utah, Bryant had the ball in his hands on the final possession. He appeared ready to hit the game-winner, but the ball slipped out of his hands.
Unreliable bench: The reserves were outscored only by Utah, but the unit continues to look uncomfortable. Brown shot a combined six of 22, Blake was scoreless in two of the games and Odom shot below 50% in all four contests. Come playoff time, the reserves -- with exception to Odom -- won’t play as much. But these remaining regular-season games should be a grand opportunity to give the starters rest.
-- Mark Medina
E-mail the Lakers blog at mgmedin@gmail.com
Top photo: Kobe Bryant attempts a left-handed layup against the challenge of the Blazers' LaMarcus Aldridge in the fourth quarter Friday night in Portland. Credit: Steve Dykes / EPA /
Second photo: Kobe Bryant brings the ball upcourt against the pressure defense of Blazers guard Wesley Matthews in the first half Friday night in Portland. Credit: Rick Bowmer / Associated Press
RE-POST:
MM
This is as close as I've seen you be emotional and not rational. The Lakers know what they can do.
Let me repeat a little stat I dug up yesterday. Teams defending their championship who have reached the NBA finals WITHOUT Home Court Advantage are 5-1 in the glorious history of this league, the one loss occurring in 1983 when the hobbled Lakers got swept by a great 76ers team. Since the 2-3-2 format was instituted in 1985 for the NBA Finals, teams defending their championship are 3-0 without HCA. Phil Jackson's two Bulls three-peat teams ('93 and '98) did NOT have HCA. This tells me that HEALTH and EXPERIENCE trumps HCA. Getting to the Finals is the hard part and that's why the starters are playing shorter minutes because part of HEALTH is some REST. They are NOT playing normal minutes right now and they are OBVIOUSLY not playing hard right now. The GREAT news is that they are much healthier at this time this year than they were at this time last year.
I admit that perhaps I let history guide my thinking a little too much and I don't put enough weight on the "this is this year, that was last year" approach. I know this much. Last year I was shocked to see a switch flipped with a team that had 4 players with hand injuries and 2 players with knee injuries. Somehow they managed to win the championship after stumbling down the stretch of the practice season. To top it off, their NBA Finals triumph was against a former champion with 3 future Hall of Famers and one of the best point guards in the NBA. That taught me a LOT about this group of players. They are thrice championship tested and twice championship proven and, most important, they are HEALTHY compared to last year. So pardon me if I let history give me all the confidence I need.
This team has been through so much more than any other team in the NBA the past three seasons and they are still NOT OLD. In fact, their youngest starter is a game changing center who is only 23 and is bigger, stronger, better and healthier than the previous 2 seasons (knock on wood). They have won at least 1 road game in each of their last 8 playoff series, including EVERY "must win" road game and they proved during the 17-1 post All-Star break stretch that they can do it again this season. So HCA or no HCA, somebody give me a rational reason why I shouldn't be confident of a three-peat. Remember that Coach Three-Peat is still guiding this team and we still have 2 three-peat experienced co-captains.
So remain calm. All is well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro
Posted by: KobeMVP888 | April 09, 2011 at 09:01 AM
Lakers will get it together come playoff time. I am jsut extremely worried about Lakers not securing that #2 seed. Their schedule is still tough, they have OKC tomorrow and then Spurs on Tuesday. The one positive is that both those games are in L.A; also if I can remember rite I don't think OKC has ever won in L.A against the Lakers since moving to Oaklahoma. But if Lakers play like they've been playing then OKC has a good chance to get their first victory in L.A. I think the Lakers can beat anyone no matter wat seed they are but I would be much more comfortable if L.A had already SECURED the number 2 seed; but they haven't and now the pressure is on them. If u think about it Dallas was on 4 game losing streak and Lakers have had some pretty easy and winnable games against Denver, Utah (HOW THE HECK DID LAKERS LOSE TO UTAH), Golden State, and Portland. If they won at least 2-3 of those games the number 2 seed would've been secured and L.A could've played Bryant and Bynum less like 28-31 minutes.
Posted by: Jordan | April 09, 2011 at 09:21 AM
I really think that this is just a minor set-back to a really brilliant second half of the season. They need to win tomorrow because many people are beginning to believe this nonsense that OKC is a legit contender. I believe that if the Lakers can win the last three games, then that would give them 20-5 record after the All-Star break, and we should be primed to perform well into the playoffs. Getting back to back wins against OKC and SA is huge for the psychological game as well, since these are the most likely opponents for the Conference Finals. Same LA complacency in the regular season, the real season is about to begin. Lakers got it on lock...
Posted by: TNTLakerFan | April 09, 2011 at 10:04 AM
In some ways this reveals an NBA flaw. Football continues to dominate because regular season games mean something. You can say all the right things, but it's hard for a vet to dig deep in a game he knows doesn't win anything meaningful in his career.
The Lakers are vets. Been there done it and want to do it again, but the "it" ain't at the end of a long grueling, body snatching season.
GO Lakers... and they will in the playoffs.
Posted by: VMan | April 09, 2011 at 10:29 AM
@MM - nice summary. The Lakers can overcome poor shooting and lack of bench production, but its hard to win when you make 70% more turnovers than your opposition like the Lakers have the last two games (34 to 20).
Posted by: LRob | April 09, 2011 at 10:34 AM
No practice season has ever made me mad like this one has all year. Kobe you are not the man anymore! Stop shooting Artest. Grow a pair Pau. Bynum gets 2 shots? Brown and Blake suck, can't believe hobbit wants MORE playing time for those two fools.
Posted by: NBA4ever | April 09, 2011 at 10:37 AM
MM, I am with you on your analysis. Let us put it this way in a reverse analogy, a good husband who is cheating his wife would put up a face to his children and his friends as if everything is normal, also continue the charade as a loving husband. In reality, he is just bidding sometime to hide his clandestine adventures. Let's think the unthinkable, perhaps our players are methodically calculating the their opponents and trying to deflect the scouts from what they can really do. Gasol acting as dumb a** who could not hold on the ball, Kobe jacking up all shots he could do for every possession and the rest of the crew put up another dam-dam clown w/ two faces: the happy face and the sad face. In the other retrospect we are the honest-to-worried fans, pundits and junkies - we can only understand the real thing which is the score at the end of the game. We have not fathomed the Zen-trained players who got bored in being a Champ and now try to master the art of conning by painting different strokes in several canvasses. Whatever, in may case I'm just totally confused so I'll just leave it to destiny and see where the chips will fall. LMAO!
Posted by: Edwin Gueco | April 09, 2011 at 10:48 AM
This is beyond frustrating to watch.
What do we play for? RINGS!!!
Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.
GO LAKERS!!!
Posted by: Jon K. | April 09, 2011 at 11:08 AM
This has been the pattern of this team all year. Now they have something to play for in these last 3 games, we will see what they are made of. Frustrating, as this years team is schizophrenic. Are we the 17-1 post All Star 2 time defending world champs, or the team that gets into these 4 game losing streaks that looks so beatable? Thank God the regular season is almost at an end because I can't take this!!! GO LAKERS
Posted by: Kobeayashimarue | April 09, 2011 at 11:42 AM
MVP-I've been reading this blog for years, and have posted a comment maybe twice. But man you're a bozo, and your ideal of this team switching the championship button is childish and unfounded. I'm at every Lakers home game because I share box seats. And everyone in the suite feel the vibe that this team is heading for heart break hotel. And btw what type of attorney are you? Unless your the top lawyer in the office, I'll fire you. You spend so much time on the blog, and by your comments your game is weak. This team is slowly circling the drain, their is no desire or passion to 3 peat. Wondering about home court, there's no need. This group of millionaire players have no pride.
Posted by: Phoenix | April 09, 2011 at 12:14 PM
Posted by: Phoenix | April 09, 2011 at 12:23 PM