In their previous 10 games coming into Sunday’s matchup with the Sacramento Kings, the Los Angeles Lakers‘ defense was very poor, drawing the ire of coach JJ Redick. He said after their 23-point loss on Christmas Day to the Houston Rockets that his players didn’t “care enough” and that Saturday’s practice would be “uncomfortable.”
The Lakers have played just one game since, but it looks like that “uncomfortable” practice is paying off.
They manhandled the Kings by gradually building a lead and never letting up, leading to a 125-101 victory that snapped a three-game losing streak. Sacramento was held to 42.9% field-goal shooting in the second half, and for the game, it went just 8-of-29 from 3-point range. Only one of its players — DeMar DeRozan — scored more than 16 points.
Los Angeles went on an 11-2 run to end the second quarter with a 68-53 lead, and it then put on a 13-2 spurt to start the third quarter and boost its lead to 26. Redick sounded pleased with how his men played during that spurt.
“We had probably one of our most consistent games in terms of 48 minutes of competitive spirit,” Redick said. “… There were a couple possessions in that 13-2 run where we just started with a five-guys-guarding mentality, and that’s really what we’re after. … We really just want five guys at all times, on every possession, engaged. That’s sort of the North Star of how we try to build a good defense.”
The real sign of how productive that Saturday practice was will come in terms of how well the Lakers play on a consistent basis over their next handful of games. They will have a tough one on Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons, who have the Eastern Conference’s best record and are one of the NBA’s best at scoring in transition and taking advantage of opponents’ turnovers and mistakes.
Sunday’s win gave L.A. a 20-10 record and moved it into fourth place in the Western Conference, but it is only one game ahead of the sixth-place Houston Rockets.