Even though we still have more than half of the NBA season ahead of us, we all know that the Los Angeles Lakers are unlikely to make the playoffs. That was the case even before Anthony Davis suffered a stress fracture on his foot.
Darvin Ham’s team looked slightly better in the two weeks prior to Davis’ injury. Nonetheless, they had already dug themselves into a massive hole, and getting out of it was a bit of an uphill battle.
So, there’s not much optimism within the organization now that their defensive anchor is set to miss some time. And, if you were to ask Davis, it’s not like there was much of a defense to anchor, to begin with.
NBA News: Anthony Davis Blames Defense For Lakers’ Season-Long Struggles
“I think our main [struggle] is defensively,” Davis said, as quoted by Lakers Nation. “We took a huge dip defensively. I think maybe three games in a row we gave up like 130 which is not us. It’s not the team we’ve been. Even when I was in the lineup we took some dips, but that’s my biggest thing right now.”
“Obviously being the anchor of the defense and guys thinking like, ‘Okay, AD in on the back line,’ which allows us to do different schemes defensively when I’m on the floor,” the PF added.“Just been trying to give these guys my insight on the defensive end, looking at clips, grabbing the iPad and showing guys when they come out, things like that. The offense though, we’ve been scoring. We just haven’t been defending and that’s where our struggles have been. Transition, rebounding, everything on the defensive end.”
The Lakers currently rank 21 out of 30 in terms of defensive rating, allowing 114.5 points per 100 possessions. They also allow the third-most points per game at 117.7. So, yeah, those aren’t exactly winning numbers.