Lakers make defensive adjustments ahead of 4-game trip – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES – The Lakers knew their defense had to change.

After a four-week stretch from October 30 through Tuesday, they had the worst defensive rating in the league (points allowed per 100 possessions) and were ranked 27th on the season after Tuesday’s road loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Their opponents regularly had 30-point quarters.

Coach JJ Redick called for improvements in physicality. Anthony Davis criticized the Lakers’ lack of communication on defense.

The necessary changes have been made, with the Lakers turning in two of their best defensive performances of the season in their final two games before embarking on a four-game road trip against the Utah Jazz on Sunday.

The Lakers play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday for the second night in a row before facing the Miami Heat on Wednesday and the Atlanta Hawks on Friday to complete the trip.

“We can build a lot defensively in the last two games,” Redick said on Friday evening after the Lakers’ 101:93 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. “It was as connected as our group has been on that end of the floor since the first game of the season.

“Really excellent job with a lot of the things we talked about. We played well and hard enough to win against the best team in the West. So there’s definitely good stuff.”

The Lakers, whose season-long defensive rating of 117.2 is the sixth-worst mark in the league (No. 25), achieved a defensive rating of 109.8 against the Thunder – their fifth-best defensive rating in a game of the season.

This came just one game after the Lakers had their best defensive performance in their road win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, posting a season-best defensive rating of 105.5, according to Cleaning The Glass.

In addition to their altered starting lineup, which placed rookie winger Dalton Knecht on the first unit alongside Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James and Davis, the Lakers also made a bet on switching to a more 1-5 defensive line.

So far the results have been encouraging.

“Each game has its own challenges and we plan for each game depending on the personnel,” James said. “Defensively we’ve been really good the last few games.”

INJURY UPDATES

The Lakers listed Reaves as questionable for Sunday at Utah on their Saturday night injury report because of a left pelvic confusion, while D’Angelo Russell is doubtful to play due to an illness.

Reaves suffered a bad fall after being fouled in the second quarter of the game against the Thunder. He returned to the team midway through the third period, having returned to the locker room for the final two and a half minutes of the second period, the halftime break and the first half of the third period.