The Lakers again became the center of attention in the NBA the second Anthony Davis joined LeBron James. It’s impossible to know in just over a week how this pairing will shake out months from now. So here are good, not-so-good and weird outcomes the Lakers have produced four games into the James-Davis era.
The Good
Given injuries to Kyle Kuzma, Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins, plus a bunch of new faces, including Davis himself, the Lakers had plenty of excuses for a slow start. Yet instead of limping from the gate, the Lakers are 3-1 and outscoring opponents by 11.8 points per game — the best mark in the league.
The Lakers also are playing top-10 defense, something that hasn’t happened in nearly a decade. Los Angeles, which plays at Dallas on Friday, has the fourth-best defensive rating at 96.8 points per 100 possessions. That’s largely a result of head coach Frank Vogel remaining steadfast in pairing Davis with another big body in the team’s front court.
With the twin towers approach, the Lakers have built a wall around the rim: Los Angeles leads the league with eight blocks per game. The Lakers aren’t just blocking opponents shots either. They’re also not allowing them. Only three teams allow fewer shots in the restricted area than Los Angeles. Only five teams force more opponent misses in the prime real estate in front of the basket. It’s a promising sign.
Los Angeles also is getting help from Lady Luck. Opponents are only converting 28.8 percent of their three-point attempts. Now before you take that as a sign of good defending, it’s important to remember that three-point defense is essentially random. And since the best three-point defense last season belonged to the Nuggets (33.8 percent), expect variance to not be so kind to L.A.’s defensive numbers going forward.
That said, some of that good fortune behind the Lakers first four opponents bricking shots from behind the arc is cancelled out by bad luck. Lakers opponents have made 87.9 percent of their free-throw attempts, almost a Steve Nash-like percentage.
In 2018-19, Charlotte had the misfortune of possessing the worst free-throw “defense” — opponents converted 78.7 percent of their charity shots. So as Lakers opponents heat up from behind the arc, they should cool down enough from the free-throw line to keep the team’s defense near the top of the league.
The not-so-good
Speaking of outside shooting, the Lakers need some variance to swing their direction on offense. Despite loading up on accomplished deep threats this off-season, the Lakers are struggling to convert shots from behind the arc. Troy Daniels (39.8 percent from 3 during his career), Quinn Cook (41.1), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (34.5) and Avery Bradley (36.4) have not shot well. None is cracking 31 percent from behind the arc.
This misfiring group probably will get their sights aligned sooner rather than later. With James and Davis needing players to knock down shots around them, the Lakers can ill-afford to have their supporting cast struggle from beyond the arc.
Perhaps the biggest reason to doubt L.A.’s nice start is the beginning of a dominant season is their opponents. While it’s too early to consult strength-of-schedule data, an eye test tells us the first four games have worked in the Lakers’ favor. Los Angeles has played just one “road” game, a 112-102 loss against the Clippers in L.A. The other three games, all wins at home, came against a Utah team minus a key starter (Bojan Bogdanovic) and two clubs — Memphis and Charlotte — that are destined to be among the dregs of the league.
