What trends can we take away from the Los Angeles Lakers’ first three games back?
By defeating the Utah Jazz on Monday, the Los Angeles Lakers clinched the top seed in the Western Conference for the first time since 2010, which was also the last time the team won the NBA championship.
Even though the Lakers have won two of its first three games since the resumption of the season, the team has not looked particularly impressive. Three games are not enough to draw definitive conclusions but it does allow certain observations to be made about team strengths and weaknesses.
As everybody knows, the Lakers are dependent on the superstar duo of Anthony Davis and LeBron James to carry them to victory. When the two dominate the court, the Lakers are very hard to beat.
AD had two big games in Orlando, scoring 34 and 42 points, respectively, against the Clippers and Jazz. But in-between he totaled just 14 points in a loss to the Raptors.
No single player in the league can proficiently guard Davis. His combination of length, quickness and shot-making ability is impossible to stop. But Toronto effectively double-teamed him most times he touched the ball, forcing him to pass the ball to teammates who inefficiently converted most of their opportunities. Expect other teams to try similar tactics in the playoffs.
LeBron has taken a different approach to these seeding games. He understood from the start that the Lakers would easily earn the top seed, so he has toned down his usual attacking style.
For the season, James had averaged 25.5 points on nearly 20 shots per game while leading the NBA with almost 11 assists per game. In these three games, while playing a similar amount of minutes, he has taken less than 17 shots a game and averaged just 19 points and 7 assists.
Clearly LBJ is conserving energy and trying to avoid taking too much of a beating so that he enters the postseason in the best shape possible. His focus so far has been to provide greater opportunities for his teammates so that they can raise the level of their games.
LeBron understands from repeated personal experience exactly what effort is required to advance deep into the playoffs. Expect that he will be much more involved once the postseason begins.
Beyond the two stars, with a couple of exceptions, the rest of the team has been less than stellar. Some are adjusting to new teammates, others to new roles. But in the remaining five seeding games, the most important development for the Lakers is for most members of the supporting cast to fulfill the roles required of them, which means improving on what they’ve done so far in Orlando.
In the three games played so far, the following three trends are evident.