Los Angeles Lakers vs Brooklyn Nets: 4 Keys to Victory

A brief look at four key things the Los Angeles Lakers may look to do in order to come out victorious versus the Brooklyn Nets in the summer league quarter finals.

In what has been an exciting Summer League so far, the Los Angeles Lakers have advanced to the quarter-finals where they will match up with the 3-1 Brooklyn Nets.

With the game fast approaching, here are a few key things the team should look to exploit during the game.

Key # 1: Make Brooklyn take threes

While it is not always a good idea to allow a team too many looks from beyond the arc, the Lakers may wish to do just that against a Nets roster that has struggled from deep during their four outings thus far.

In three of their four games, the Nets have converted less than 30% of their three-point attempts, the only exception being their romping of the New Orleans Pelicans in which they hit on 34.5% of their shots from range.

However, Los Angeles should work to limit the opportunities of players such as Boothe, Senglin, and Boyle, who have shown the ability, even if not always consistent, to knock down shots from beyond the arc relatively consistently during summer league.

Key # 2 : Put pressure on the paint

With the absence of rim protecting center Jarrett Allen, the Nets, similar to the Lakers, do not have many options when it comes to protecting the paint.

During the four games, the Nets only averaged six blocks per game, which is slightly inflated as a result of their outing versus New Orleans where they tallied 11 blocks.

Due to this, it may be wise for the Lakers to consider driving inside as well as posting up in the paint in order to take advantage of their lack of interior defense.

Key # 3: Get Ball and Kuzma going offensively

As things stand, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma are the team’s leaders in points per game, averaging 17 and 18 points respectively.

Given this, the Lakers should look to continue to find ways to get these two athletes engaged on the offensive end, which they will need going against defender Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

As for how they make get their points, the Lakers may look to get Kuzma open looks from the perimeter, where he has knocked down a solid 38.5 percent thus far.

Also look for Kuzma to run the floor hard in transition as well, where he has received quite a few baskets courtesy of a Lonzo Ball full court pass. In contrast, Ball has struggled mightily from beyond the arc, going an extremely poor 19.4 percent from three-point range in four games.

Given this, he may look to attack the rim more aggressively like he did in his 36-point performance against the Philadelphia 76ers for a large portion of his baskets.

Key # 4: Limit the points of Levert, Whitehead, and Goodwin

Lastly, during the Nets summer league campaign, they have been led in points by one of these three players each of their four games.

As such, the Lakers should attempt to keep the ball out of their hands as much as possible on the offensive end and force the other members of their roster to beat them instead.

If the team cannot keep the ball out of these athlete’s hands, they should look to make them attempt as many three-point shots as possible.

This is because these players excel at driving in the paint, and could take advantage of the team’s poor interior defense, but do tend to struggle more shooting from the perimeter, as does the majority of their roster.

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During their time in summer league, these three young talents each had games where they were unable to hit a single three-point attempt all game, which would surely increase the chance of the Lakers getting the win if they were to settle for these shots.

* Statistical data courtesy of nba.com*

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