Los Angeles Lakers: Reasons for their recent losing streak

Lonzo Ball’s Shooting Woes Return

Lonzo Ball came back from his shoulder injury on February 23rd. He had done well in December after an atrocious start to the season shooting wise, and there was hopes he could continue his December successes when he came back. Lonzo didn’t disappoint, shooting 21-for-36 from the 3-point line in his first 6 games back. This all culminated in a season-high for threes in a game against the San Antonio Spurs. Lonzo nailed six threes on the night including a few clutch threes in the 4th quarter to steal the win.

Lonzo has crashed back to earth after shooting 58.3% in his first 6 games back. In the last 6 games he has played, Lonzo has gone 6-for-36 from the 3-point line resulting in a terrible 16.6%. Teams have decided to start attacking Lonzo differently on the defensive end. Pete Zayas aka “Laker Film Room” details this in the video below.

During Lonzo’s good shooting run, defenses were going under screens on him, allowing him separation to knock down threes. Pete details in his video how defenses have changed their ways with Lonzo, and how it has affected him to get off quality threes. It puts more pressure on Lonzo to make decisions while driving to the basket, which he has struggled doing. He might not be confident enough in his free throw shooting or his ability to finish at the rim, which causes Lonzo to make bad passes coming off the screen.

Lonzo will have to improve while driving to the basket to get defenses to sag off him more, but he might not have time to do that until the offseason.