Lakers HC shares interesting reason for team's defense in blowout loss
The Lakers got blown out Thursday night. Their coach is blaming laryngitis.
Anthony Davis didn't talk to the media after the Golden State Warriors beat the Lakers, 128-110. Lakers coach Darvin Ham said that's because Davis lost his voice, and that's why the team's defense was so bad Thursday night.
The Warriors shot well, but not ridiculously so in the game. They made 46.7 percent of their shots from the field and went 16-for-41 from deep. The big difference was that the undersized Warriors outrebounded the Lakers, grabbing 48 rebounds to the Lakers' 41, and Los Angeles made only 28 percent of their three-point attempts.
But some of the biggest defensive breakdowns happened with Davis on the bench. Rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis scored the Warriors' first 13 points of the second quarter as the Lakers continuously failed to guard him going to the rim.
Unless Davis is supposed to also communicate defensive assignments from the bench, his lost voice didn't matter there. He still had 27 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
Ham's answer feels like a cop-out, but it's probably better than admitting to the media that with LeBron James and Jarred Vanderbilt out, the Lakers are short on reliable defenders.
Austin Reaves is one of the NBA's worst defenders in Estimated Defensive Plus-Minus, and has been hunted by opposing offenses since the FIBA Cup last summer. When the Lakers switch, Reaves gets exposed. He and D'Angelo Russell are good at getting steals, but they're not nearly as strong in the half-court, especially facing a motion offense like the Warriors.
Perhaps having Davis there to call instructions makes a huge difference, but it's an interesting wrinkle to the Lakers-Warriors matchup, which appears likely to occur again in the play-in tournament. They're 3.5 and four games out of sixth place, respectively, with the red-hot Dallas Mavericks holding the last guaranteed playoff spot at the moment.
The Lakers desperately need Vanderbilt, James and Gabe Vincent to get healthy. Otherwise, Davis needs to start drinking a lot of throat coat tea.
More must-reads: