A 6-4 record over your last 10 games is not the type of thing that will force people to pay attention to the improvements a team has made. However, the Los Angeles Lakers are indeed trending in the right direction, despite what the win-loss column says. One area, in particular, is standing out.
That would be the Lakers defense. It has been the subject of great ridicule throughout the NBA season. It has been the reason most will discount the team immediately in the NBA Playoffs. It has also quietly been just a smidge worse than a top-10 unit since the All-Star break.
The Lakers have posted a defensive rating of 111.7 coming out of the stoppage in regular season action. On paper, that puts them 14th in the NBA over that stretch. However, the margins between them and the top-10 are extremely thin.
The Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns are tied for 10th during the time frame here, both delivering a defensive rating of 111.1. There is not a ton of difference between that and what the Lakers have done.
Does this focus on a specific time frame nitpick a favorable stretch? Perhaps under a different set of circumstances, one could argue that. In the Lakers' case here, there is actually reason to believe there may be something very real to the improvements on the back end.
Lakers' shift to playing more zone defense is yielding the needed results
The adjustments made by JJ Redick to play more zone, or at least have some zone principles in a hybrid defensive look, have been well-documented. That is why when the recent stretch of games is showing clear improvements, it is worth paying attention to and not just dismissing as an outlier.
It should not be a secret to anyone that playoff basketball requires a balanced effort on both sides of the basketball court. Simply being a great offensive team will not cut it. For a while, it looked like the Lakers were headed straight for just asking Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and LeBron James to bail them out in a postseason setting.
Now, they have something to hang their hats on apart from the star power of their main three guys.
Gambling on top-end talent to save the day got them promptly bounced in five games last season against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers will need more than that if they want to build real momentum in the Doncic era. These are quietly encouraging signs they might have it.