Los Angeles Lakers must tighten up the defense as playoffs get closer

They say that defense wins games, right? I couldn’t agree more. After all, you can hold a team to almost nothing in terms of points, yards, shots on goal, or runs and have a mediocre offense and still be victorious. How many times have we seen this come true and in so many different sports as well? When it comes to defense, the Los Angeles Lakers must tighten their unit together more and not allow for opponents to score so many points on them.

In the last ten games in which the Lakers have lost, they have allowed their opponents to score over 100 points in each of those matchups. This includes giving up 121 points to the Celtics as well as giving up 128 points to the Pelicans back in March.

This of course is quite concerning, to say the least.  Even though they are still one of the better defensive teams in the NBA, they need to tighten the reigns around their defense as the playoffs are on the horizon.

Good is not good enough for the Los Angeles Lakers when great is possible.

This has not been a great year for defensive players such as Wes Matthews and Marc Gasol; two players that were brought to LA because of the ability they possess on the defensive side of the ball. To be quite honest, both have been busts.

We didn’t really expect too much from Gasol in the long run, but still. That doesn’t let the rest of the team off the hook though as they have been allowing teams to score more in recent games.

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Getting Anthony Davis back is a huge step in the right direction. As the season comes to a close and as they get to play a bit more with each other, they will no doubt get more used to each other especially with Andre Drummond being a new peace to the Lakers puzzle.

If they can straighten things out a bit more with LeBron James now back, they will no doubt be an even greater force to be reckoned with.

One of the more positive aspects to focus on is that out of the eight teams in the playoff hunt for the Western Conference, the Lakers give up the least points. This is something to take into consideration.

As it currently stands, the Lakers will be facing the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. That can all change if Dallas surpasses them, as the Mavericks are only half a game behind them.

There is no doubt that this will be a much different Los Angeles Lakers team in a playoff series and with their roster all well and healthy. Opponents are well aware of this and they know the Lakers are one of the teams they do not want to face come playoff time.