The Perimeter Defense Will Still Get Torched
While there are mostly positive things to take away from the Lakers’ hard fought loss to the Thunder on Friday night, they did allow 117 points and continued to look like one of the worst defenses in the league. Though Roy Hibbert and company were less than stellar in terms of defending the interior, the struggles for LA defensively still begin and end on the perimeter.
Adequately guarding Oklahoma City star point guard Russell Westbrook is a near impossible task for any team in the NBA, much less one that lacks any real defensive talent on the perimeter like the Lakers. The fact that the purple and gold had to try and contain him only made their matador defense on drives look worse and their inability to closeout effectively on a consistent basis all the more evident.
In case you aren’t sold on the fact that the Lakers were unable to do anything defensively against Westbrook as evidence of how broken their perimeter defense is, rookie point guard Cameron Payne also had a ton of success in his limited time on the floor, slicing into the paint through the perimeter defense like a knife through hot butter. Even in a strong team effort, Los Angeles’ biggest issue still made a glaring appearance.
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