High-scoring Lakers stress they need to play championship defense

Teammates admit to sometimes getting lulled into ball-watching when Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are at the controls of the Lakers’ offense. The highest scoring duo in the NBA is just that dynamic. But Tuesday’s 136-129 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers reinforced that even one of the best offensive backcourts in the league can totally compensate for a championship-winning defense.

“We’ve been relying on our offense a lot,” center Walker Kessler said after the Lakers lost their first game of the season. “And we have a very, very good offense and a lot of great scorers. But that’s not gonna be the only thing that gets us to win a championship here.”

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The Lakers (3-1) entered Tuesday’s game as the top scoring offense in the NBA. After Tuesday’s game featuring a matchup of the NBA’s two best offenses, they dropped to 22nd in defensive rating.

Portland guard Damian Lillard shook off uncharacteristically poor free-throw shooting to finish with 21 points and a dagger three-pointer to put the Trail Blazers up by six with 43 seconds left. Portland (3-0) had four players score at least 21 points, led by 23 each from Deni Avdija and Ja Morant. Doncic poured in 41 points with nine assists and Reaves had 26 points with seven assists, four rebounds and no turnovers.

Read more: Lakers suffer first loss of season at hands of Trail Blazers

Lakers coach JJ Redick, still mindful that the season is less than a week old, considered the defensive struggles a learning lesson for all coaches and players. He noted breakdowns that could be solved with better adherence to the game plan and understanding of the opposing team’s personnel.

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“I don’t think there was any adjustment thing that was to be made,” Reaves said. “I think it was more so us not doing what we were supposed to. Game plan discipline wasn’t great. We got to talk more on the defensive end and just be sharper in our base coverages.”

Rebounding problems have been a nagging issue since preseason. Redick had the team do three different box out drills during a training camp practice after the Lakers were outrebounded by 21 during the first four preseason…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/high-scoring-lakers-stress-play-143847542.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-28 14:38:00

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