The first two games of the 2023-24 season are in the books for the Los Angeles Lakers, and they have a 1-1 record after losing to the Denver Nuggets on opening night and beating the Phoenix Suns on Thursday. While it is too early to draw any real conclusions, it isn’t too early to identity potential weaknesses or concerns.
For the first three quarters of Thursday’s game, Los Angeles looked punchless. Even though the Suns were very shorthanded without Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, they outclassed LeBron James and company. The Lakers had trouble stringing together defensive stops, and even when they did, they couldn’t get the ball back.
They did overcome a 12-point deficit to start the fourth quarter and won the old-fashioned way, 100-95, but some would say they proved absolutely nothing in doing so.
Even if they did prove they can win despite playing very poorly, three significant concerns have emerged that they will need to rectify as soon as possible.
3-point shooting
The Lakers have never been a great 3-point shooting team, and that has especially been true during the LeBron James era. In each of the last eight seasons, they have been in the bottom third in 3-point shooting percentage, and last season they were at 25th.
Through two games, the Purple and Gold have shot an ice-cold 25.9% from downtown, including a frigid 17.2% versus Phoenix.
On paper, the Lakers appear to have improved in that department thanks to the additions of Taurean Prince and Christian Wood. In addition, guard Gabe Vincent has shown some ability to hit timely treys. However, the results haven’t been there, at least not yet.
If they’re going to improve their ability to win when the pace slows to a crawl, even though that’s not the type of game they want to or should play, they absolutely must start hitting from the outside. Los Angeles hasn’t been a good halfcourt offensive team since James’ arrival, and its lack of perimeter shooting has been one reason why.
Defensive rebounding
This has been a weakness for the Lakers over the last couple of years, and through two games, little has changed in that department.
On Tuesday, the defending NBA champion Nuggets outmuscled the Lakers on the boards, and although the Lakers actually got two more rebounds than Denver, it was misleading, as they couldn’t secure defensive rebounds at key times after getting stops. It was a replay of last May’s Western Conference Finals when the Lakers consistently got brutalized on the boards by the Nuggets.
Against Phoenix, they were outrebounded by seven. Luckily, they turned the tide in the fourth quarter, as they had a five-rebound advantage in that final frame thanks to the efforts of Anthony Davis and Christian Wood.
Los Angeles is at its best on the fast break and in early offense. However, if it fails to grab defensive rebounds in bunches, it won’t be able to run consistently and change the flow of the game with its transition attack.
A failure to secure defensive rebounds leads to second-chance points for one’s opponents. On Tuesday, it gave up 17 second-chance points, and it surrendered 14 such points to the Suns.
Winning when James is resting
A troubling trend is emerging after two games: When James is on the court, the Lakers have played well, but when he is resting, they have struggled, especially offensively.
According to NBA.com, the Lakers are plus 14.5 with James on the court but minus 18.0 with him off the floor. Even worse, their offensive rating without James has been a horrendous 72.1, while their defensive rating without him has been 125.0 as opposed to 95.6. Their net rating without him has been an extremely painful -52.9.
Yes, it’s a small sample space, but it’s a trend nonetheless. Since they’re serious about keeping James’ minutes down this year, they cannot lose ground when he is resting, especially with what appears to be lots of depth, at least on paper.
When James is resting, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura need to step up offensively. None of them have played well in these first two games, and Reaves in particular needs to return to the aggressive, chutzpah-laden play he routinely flaunted last season.
