1. Lack of Perimeter Defense
During the regular season, Avery Bradley set the tone for the Los Angeles Lakers defensively. He aggressively guarded the opposing point guard, making it more difficult for opponents to initiate their offense. While no defender can stop the best NBA backcourt players, Bradley was at least able to limit them to some degree.
Nobody else on the Lakers can match Bradley’s on-ball assertiveness. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has moved into AB’s spot in the starting lineup, but his defense pales by comparison. Accordingly, point guards have had their way against the Lakers so far.
Specifically, Reggie Jackson & Patrick Beverley combined for 22 points against them for the Clippers, then Kyle Lowry went off for 33 points for Toronto, and finally, Mike Conley scored 24 points and Donovan Mitchell had 33 for Utah.
KCP is not entirely to blame. Defense is a team game, and other Laker players need to do a better job helping out than they have the past three games, particularly against pick and rolls.
It’s possible that Coach Frank Vogel will move KCP out of the starting lineup. His replacement would most likely be Alex Caruso, who is a better defender but still isn’t as quick or aggressive as Bradley. Perhaps this move would help the first unit. However, it might also hinder the effectiveness of the second unit, which is run much of the time by Caruso.
The Lakers also have the option of double-teaming the point guard, but that often leads to a scrambling defense that gets scorched elsewhere. What might end up happening at least in part is that the Lakers accept that they will be burned by opposing point guards but they tighten up their D elsewhere to limit everyone else.
Along with that, they also have the capability of simply improving their offensive output and outscoring opponents. Expect that Vogel will experiment during the remaining five games to see what works best.