Getty Anthony Davis (middle), Lakers
If there is an apt way to describe the way the Lakers played defense on Thursday against the Spurs, it comes in the form of a statistic (though Anthony Davis had another idea). This team added offensive help with Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell in the offseason, but concerns about the quality of the D linger. The Lakers entered Thursday’s game, though, ranked No. 2 in the NBA in defensive efficiency, but left it ranked sixth.
Yes, from No. 2 (103.6 points allowed per 100 possessions) to No. 6 (105.2 points allowed per 100 possessions).
Anthony Davis had a proper reaction to that performance, which saw the Lakers yield 118 points and 45.7% 3-point shooting, forcing only six turnovers and allowing 28 assists.
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“We didn’t play any defense,” he said. “Our defense was s*** tonight. We didn’t play one lick of defense and them guys did whatever they want. They came into this game very comfortable, guys made shots made plays. We got off to a slow start and even though we made some plays, made some stops, we never had the game under control. We never played defense from the opening tip to the final buzzer. That’s why we lost.”
Anthony Davis vents frustration about lack of defense being played by this revamped Lakers team: “We didn’t play any defense. Our defense was shit tonight. We didn’t play one lick of defense and them guys did whatever they want.”
LaMarcus Aldridge, Spurs Confounded Lakers Defense
Davis also laid into the Lakers for their inability to guard LaMarcus Aldridge, a good perimeter shooter as a center, among the best “stretch-5s” in the NBA, even at age 35. Aldridge scored 28 points on 11-for-18 shooting.
The Lakers started Marc Gasol at center, but Gasol is slow-footed and can’t defend perimeter centers like Aldridge. He played only 13 minutes but was a minus-16 on the night. That is a red flag—if not Gasol, do the Lakers have anyone who can guard perimeter-oriented big men?
“This is the first time we’ve seen one,” Davis said of a center like Aldridge, “but we messed up our coverages. We didn’t do what we were supposed to do, so we can’t even tell if our defensive schemes worked for a stretch-5.”
Political Chatter Dominated at Lakers-Spurs
The Lakers were not using this as an excuse, but there was much occupying attention around the country this week and, in the end, that overshadowed Thursday’s clunker of a game.
Players and coaches spoke not only about the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, which resulted in five deaths, but also in the lack of charges filed in the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August. Those incidents—the protestors at the Capitol were mostly white and Blake, who is paralyzed because of the shooting, is Black—appeared to highlight the disparities in how the nation treats its citizens of color.
Here’s what Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, courtesy of the L.A. Times:
It just laid bare the blatant, dangerous, debilitating racism that is our country’s sin and that has plagued us all of these years. There can’t be a better obvious example of a system that is not fair, as far as justice and equal rights are concerned and protection of citizens. It was just right in your face. And anybody that can ignore that is a shameful individual in my opinion. It’s hard to deny that.
LeBron James, too, was outspoken, ripping into Trump.
“The events that took place yesterday [were] a direct correlation, the president that’s in the seat right now, of his actions, his beliefs, his wishes,” James said. “He cares about nobody besides himself. Nobody. Absolutely nobody. He doesn’t care about this country. He doesn’t care about his family. … And we’ve seen the tweets that have happened along this whole path to the destruction of what happened yesterday. Those events were because of him.”
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