After another porous defensive showing, the Lakers nearly unanimously agreed they need to communicate more defensively.
There was something mighty ironic about the Lakers in their postgame pressers after Tuesday’s loss to the Hawks. After a fourth straight night of allowing at least 130 points, defense was obviously the topic of discussion.
While there was plenty to criticize and critique about the Lakers’ play, there was one specific aspect the near entirety of the team talked about needing to be better.
Yes, the Lakers spent much of the postgame talking about how they needed to talk more, especially with Anthony Davis sidelined.
“There’s got to be more communication throughout the course of a possession because you can have a little slippage when AD’s out there because he protects on that third line of defense,” LeBron James said. “But when he’s not out there, there has to be constant communication out on the floor so when we do have a slippage, we at least have guys that are protecting.”
“I would say more so just communication,” Jarred Vanderbilt added. “Obviously, we’re missing one of the best defenders in the league. AD’s a huge part of what we do so not having him tonight, we had to adjust. But, yeah, just play with consistency and talking, communicating and guys reacting and rebounding. I think communication, rebounding and transition defense, I those are three things that hurt us.”
It takes a lot to be outdone by a Hawks defense that escorted Luka Doncic to 73 points just days prior, but the Lakers did just that. The Hawks shot 52.5% from the field, 42.1% from the 3-point line and allowed 21 second-chance points, 68 points in the paint and 26 fastbreak points.
