For old times sake, I think it would be nice tonight to see one of our point guards blow past Chucky Atkins at the top of the key and score on a lay-up. Ahhh, the memories.
The problem is the Wizards coaching staff has realized that Atkins is all hands, no feet on defense so he is playing a back up role (18 minutes a game) and that has pushed Atkins to ask for a trade.
No matter, the Lakers’ offense doesn’t revolve only around getting penetration and shooting threes anymore, the offense has become a lot more balanced — and that has led to wins.
In their last 10 games, the Lakers are 7-3, having won 6 of their last 7. While LA Times headlines talk about defense (and the Lakers had a pretty good defensive game against Memphis), the reason for the improvement been the offense has come together. In the last 10 games, the Lakers have had a defensive rating of 105.6 (points per 100 opponent possessions) and opponents have shot 48.3% (eFG%) against them — numbers basically near their season averages. It’s a big improvement over last year but not the reason they suddenly look better this season.
However, in the last 10 games the Laker offense has been working at a Phoenix Suns level of efficiency. In those games, the Lakers have an offensive rating of 109.2 (per 100 possessions), which would have them six in the league this season tied with Phoenix. In those 10, the Lakers are shooting 50% from the field, which would be fourth best in the NBA this season.
The big question is: How long can the Lakers keep this up? Right now they are on a bit of a hot streak, there will be ebbs and flows to the season. But as the rest of the players begin to find and fill their roles — something that was aided by the return of triangle-experienced players in Luke Walton and Devean George — this team is going to get smoother on offense as the year goes on.
Which is one way of saying — they can keep this up for a long while if they stay healthy.
The Wiz come in to LA wanting to run but the Lakers must not be eased on down that road (Washington has the fourth fastest pace in the league, 93.4 possessions per game). The Lakers are capable of running but, if the easy basket is not there, they need to slow it down and run the triangle — that has been the key to the win streak.
Gilbert Arenas has been having a career year for the Wizards, being a +9.8 (per 48 minutes), scoring 26.7 points per 40 minutes and with a true shooting percentage of 56% (remember TS% counts free throws in the mix, it’s basically points per shot attempt). For some comparison, Kobe is scoring more (30.9 per 40) but not shooting as well (51.2% TS%). When Arenas is not on the floor, the Wizards have trouble scoring, despite guys like Antawn Jamison on the roster.
The big let down has been a guy I and others said the Lakers should go after this past off-season — Antonio Daniels. He is a -8.3 and is shooting a horrid 31.8% (eFG%) from the field. CourtsideTimes.net’s Kevin Broom (who follows the Wizards) has said Daniels is lost in the Wizard offense and that his defense turned out to be a bit overrated.
Of course, a lot of the talk will be about the guys in the trade from this summer. Caron Butler has played very well for the Wiz, with a PER of 20.1 (up from 15.8 last season). His numbers are up across the board, not something shocking for a young player in his fourth season, but he seems to be more confident and is attempting almost 5 more shots per 40 minutes in the Wizards more up-and-down style of play.
Kwame Brown has put together a couple good games for the Lakers and now the team is wondering what they can expect out of him. I’ve liked him in the backup center role the last couple of games. That said, when Brown is motivated he’s the best front court player the Lakers have — and he should be motivated tonight to show his old team it was a mistake to let him go. I expect a big game out of him tonight.
Sometimes, after a long road trip teams tend to relax during their first game back home. The Lakers can’t do that tonight, they need to keep playing as they have the last seven games. Do so and this should be another win.
Kurt says
Those of you looking for more on Artest and Laker rumors, here’s the latest from Eric Pincus:
“Thus far it’s been made clear that the untouchable list in pursuit of Ron Artest remains Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. With little progress made offering Chris Mihm (among others), Kwame Brown may very well be the best offer the Lakers are willing to make.”
KD says
This will be a fun one to watch. In spite of Washington’s 4th-quarter issues, their spacing is still improving, even though it looks to me like Jamison is dragging that leg a little. His inability to finish is hurting the team, but they can still reel off a 12-4 run in the time it takes Phil to uncross his legs.
Enjoyed watching the recent Laker run too, mixing what little they understand of where Tex and Phil want them to go on the court with what they already know about the pro game. Good calls on the 1). Transition, 2). Triangle thought-process.
These teams played an entertaining game last year at Staples, I’d like to see them replicate that.
chris henderson says
yeah tonight’s a huge game for Kwame, I hope he doesn’t push too hard, or get too anxious, and I think him coming off the bench is working better than anyone could’ve guessed. I was all for having him earn his way back into the rotation, since we were playing pretty darn good when he was out with the injury. but the added concept from Phil that he and Mihm were not playing well together, that seems to really be a great observation, and a (for now) proven success.
For now, if it’s not broken…which is how it looks, given our recod of 6 “W”s out of the last 7 games…so, I hope to see that same pattern for a while.
Another fact I think has been the solid play of the second unit, giving us a double bonus, 1) they believe they can not only hold their own, but can build on a lead, (if we have one) or get us back in the game if we are behind, this is due to Luke being a great facilitator,George playing agressive “D”, Laron playing hard, going to the hole, could be our next “coop-a-loop” guy, and…having Kwame being a part of that group adds a solid big down low, also 2) it gives our starting unit a chance to recharge, and come back more effective, and when you think about a season long effect, this is huge to be able to finish the season strong, having10 to 12 players contributing all the way down the stretch.
john says
i do believe a lot of kwame’s difficulty at the beginning was he wanted to do so well. so yeah, let’s hope he doesn’t get too excited and play outside of himself.
i wouldn’t even offer mihm for artest. the lakers don’t have a fabulous big man, but he’s the most decent. heck, couldn’t he almost even be considered one of the top 10 centers in the league? not that that would be saying a whole lot.
you add up the lakers big men and as a unit they could add up to a serious force in the middle.
that’s probably the overall key to this team, having so many decent, multi-faceted weapons that outside of kobe aren’t overwhelming– a few wil have a bad night, but on that same night a few won’t.
riddle me this– why did artest get fined for asking for a trade, yet chucky didn’t?
Anonymous says
@john – I believe it was because artest made specific suggestions – “I’d like to goto new york” vs. chucky’s “I just want to be traded”. Dunno why that’s “worse”, but I think that’s the logic.