System breakdown: the Lakers need deep introspection
Lakers Game Observations: Game 28 @ Suns
I don’t often stray from my usual game observations format. I like the consistency, and some readers have asked me not to disclose results in the titles since they watch games the day after. I did it once earlier this season, writing about the Lakers’ free-falling defense after the Celtics loss, when I subtitled it “when a game recap turns into a concerning trend.” Six games later, here we are again.
Sometimes a game feels different. Not just one of the 82 you sweep under the rug. This one felt like either a breaking point or a rally point going forward.
The Lakers lost their first consecutive game of the season, but more concerning is that this was another blowout collapse decided in the middle of the third quarter. Another entry in a growing list of troubling signs and uncompetitive losses we’ve seen all season.
The fact that the Lakers still hold a very solid 19–9 record and sit fourth in the West should not obscure what we’ve been talking about since the start of the season. Their +0.4 net rating, which ranks 16th in the league, paints a much more accurate picture of this team. An average one.
In his season-opening press conference, team GM Rob Pelinka said the 25-game mark would be a milestone for evaluating what this team really is. We are now three games past that point, and one thing is clear. What this team is not, despite the record, is physical and connected enough to keep up with the current top-tier teams.
Today’s notes:
Lack of a clear identity
No Rui, no Luka: same structural issues 📈
Deandre Ayton over Mark Williams second thoughts?
When or why Vando is not the answer (🎞️VIDEO)
Driving home for Christmas
1-Lack of a clear identity
Why this game felt bigger than just one loss is because it gave the Lakers a mirror. On one end, you have a team that has been up and down all season. A team where you never quite know what level of effort and focus you are going to get, not just game to game, but quarter to quarter. A team still searching for answers on both ends of the floor.
On the other end are the Suns. A team with a clear identity. More organized. More structured on both ends. More disciplined, even while playing an aggressive brand of basketball. And with more three in their 3-and-D role players.
The Suns are far more comfortable and disruptive executing their base pick-and-roll defensive scheme. They build a tight pocket around the ball handler through aggressive shrinking and gap help, with Mark Williams anchoring the back line. By contrast, the Lakers repeatedly gave up switches that allowed Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks to attack smaller defenders like Austin Reaves and Nick Smith Jr., holding them hostage (literally with hostage dribbles) often with little to no help.
The little defensive success the Lakers have had this season has mostly come from individual playmaking rather than consistent, systematic resistance or disruption.
2-No Rui, no Luka: same structural issues 📈
What made this performance especially frustrating, and a clear sign of deeper structural flaws, is that it came without Luka Dončić and Rui Hachimura. This was the worst defensive showing of the season despite both starters being out, even though those two are often the starting point when the Lakers’ defensive issues are discussed. The Lakers’ previous worst defensive performance also came without Dončić and LeBron James in the lineup.
The Lakers gave up an astonishing 152.6 points per 100 possessions in non-garbage-time minutes, dropping them to 25th in the league in defensive rating, ahead of only five bottom-feeder teams.
Postgame, a JJ Redick looked visibly deflated and was very frank about his team’s lack of effort and composure. Redick also admitted that this team’s margin for error on defense is not very high, which makes detailed execution of the defensive game plan essential. However, the Lakers have shown all season that they cannot maintain that level of focus for more than a few possessions, and certainly not for an entire game. At some point, that has to be pinned on personnel rather than willingness.
Redick answering the question of whether the team has enough high-IQ, high-effort defensive players with a quick, decisive “no” was a clear message. These defensive issues may be beyond fixing with the tools he currently has.
However, the current state is a consequence of the decisions the Lakers made in the offseason when they signed Deandre Ayton and chose to pair him with Hachimura, James, and Dončić. They did bring in Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia, replacing Dorian Finney-Smith and Jordan Goodwin, but right now those moves feel more like patchwork than the kind of systematic retooling this team needs around Dončić.
3-Deandre Ayton over Mark Williams second thoughts?
Ayton has exceeded most expectations for the Lakers as a great, low-cost pickup on the buyout market this summer. His attitude has been strong, his effort mostly solid, and his already elite finishing efficiency has climbed to new career highs catching lobs and pocket passes from Dončić, Reaves, and James.
But what has also become clear watching Ayton up close over the first third of the season is that he is not a game-changing defensive big. He is not the defensive backbone, the anchor archetype who erases mistakes and increases the margin for error Redick talked about, something this team, as currently constructed, desperately lacks. That’s not an indictment of Ayton, but rather of the roster as a whole, as the sum of its parts.
Williams, on the other hand, is thriving in a defensive scheme designed around him and his massive standing reach. Questions about his durability and his adaptability to the different coverages often required in the playoffs will remain. These three matchups against the Suns have shown that Williams has been the more impactful defender and rim deterrent compared to Ayton. That said, I’m not fully convinced Williams would look the same in purple and gold had the February trade not been rescinded, largely because of the Lakers’ system and, more importantly, the current personnel. But what I think there is less and less doubt about is that a team built around Dončić and Reaves needs an impactful defensive big on the back line to have any hope of a competent defense.
4-When or why Vando is not the answer (🎞️VIDEO)
Jarred Vanderbilt is one of the most polarizing players on this roster. At his best, he is the chaos-creating, relentless energy dynamo we saw in the previous matchup between these two teams, when he flipped the game with pure effort. Those kinds of hustle plays are why fans, myself included, have been calling for more banshees and more Vando in the rotation.
However, the challenge with Vanderbilt is that while his motor and hustle are never in doubt, his defensive composure and fundamentals are. He is an effort defender who will force loose balls, create havoc, and generate deflections while playing loose, but he is also a defender who can be undisciplined, too often gets burned on cuts, dies on screens, or ends up out of position while gambling for a steal.
That is why he is not an All-Defense–level player, and combined with his shooting limitations and turnover-prone play, it’s hard to justify a role much larger than 15 to 18 minutes off the bench.
5-Driving home for Christmas
This game closed out a four-game road trip, and now the Lakers head into a five-game homestand. Despite another disappointing loss, it should not be all doom and gloom. The strong start to the season bought them some margin and some time, allowing for patience after nights like this. The hope is that they can regroup at home and prevent a deeper slide.
That reset begins on Christmas Day against the Rockets. If time permits, I’ll have a detailed preview tomorrow. The Rockets have hit a rough patch of its own, losing four of its last five games, three of them in overtime. Christmas games are always fun, and this will be a great opportunity for the Lakers to respond and show they can keep up with the league’s best when fully motivated and locked in.
And to close, I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. Thank you for reading, for the support, and for being part of the digginbasketball community.
Maybe Redick lacks knowledge in defense tactics. Some lecture by Zvezdan Mitrović might be useful for him.
Jokes aside, Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.
Great analysis as always. I want to ask - how much is Lakers defense bad BC they are not fully engage? Or is it even if they would do their best with effort they would still be bottom third in defense?