Turnovers and Free-Throw Shooting
The Lakers may have won the game, but the holes in their game continued to show. Two of the team’s main concerns this year have been turnovers and free-throw shooting. The Lakers rank second to last in turnovers with 16.6 per game, and rank last in free-throw shooting with a 69.2 percent success rate.
Last night the team had a season-high 26 turnovers. Of those 26 turnovers, Brandon Ingram had seven while Julius Randle had six. The turnovers almost cost the Lakers the game as there were a few Sacramento runs.
The Lakers were up 24-6 early in the first quarter, but their turnovers trimmed their lead down to four by the end of the quarter. Similarly, the team was up 53-52 to start the second-half, but found themselves down 56-64 three minutes into the third quarter. If L.A. hopes to hold on to their leads in what should be easy victories the team should continue to strive to take better care of the basketball.
As for the free-throw shooting, the team shot 13-for-21 from the line. The 61.9 percent success put them below even their own league-low average for the season. Like turnovers, the team should make an effort to improve their free-throw shooting if they wish to continue to win games.