The Los Angeles Lakers got all their injured starters back last weekend. Their defense remained absent without leave Monday night.
The Orlando Magic outscored the Lakers, 34-18, in the third quarter on their way to a 118-106 victory. The Lakers were consistently bad in their transition defense, giving up 15 fast-break points in the first half.
Los Angeles got burned from three-point range by a sub-.500 team for the second time in as many games. The Magic are the NBA’s worst three-point shooting team, but they went 15-for-40 from behind the arc against the Lakers’ paint-packing defense. Saturday, the Chicago Bulls shot 19-for-41 on threes on their way to a 146-115 victory.
Transition defense has been a problem for the Lakers all season, though they’ve improved from fourth-worst to eighth-worst in the NBA since December. Some of that may have been a matter of saving energy: LeBron James is coming back from a groin injury, Austin Reaves is banged up and Luka Doncic has never been known for consistently getting back on defense.
But it’s also the Lakers’ scheme. The team intentionally tries to limit drives and discourage paint touches, which yields open threes. When an opponent gets hot behind the arc, the Lakers defense can look very ordinary.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner only shot a combined 5-for-16 behind the arc, but still went for 30 and 32 points respectively. The rest of the team was 10-for-24, and Orlando got 45 points off threes to the Lakers’ 30.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick needs more effort from his team, who may have eased up thanks to injuries and the team sitting three games clear of the play-in. But they’re not getting a break anytime soon.
The Indiana Pacers are fifth in the league in transition points — and the Lakers have to play them on Wednesday.
