Lakers News: NBA Twitter Shreds LA For Suns Game, Despite Win

In the second half of the 2022-23 NBA season, your Los Angeles Lakers staked their claim as one of the better defensive teams in the NBA. It helped them rally to make a playoff spot, and then ultimately reach the Western Conference Finals.

They brought back much of the same team but also added some extra firepower defensively as well. It was thought that they would go back to being a strong defensive unit, but so far through the first part of the schedule, they are anything but.

"L.A. entered this game 3-5 overall and 0-5 on the road in part because of a defense that has clearly regressed from last season. The Lakers have allowed the ninth-most points per game in the NBA (116.2 PPG) and sport a bottom-half defensive rating (16th), per

Basketball-Reference

."

Per Paul Kasabian of Bleacher Report

Against the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, the defensive woes continued, and they allowed the Suns to score 63 points by halftime. It was another poor performance for LA to start the game, and they were killed on social media for it.

AD Defense tonight is non existent he just let nurkic bully him
— The Lakers Chip (@Lakerschipp) November 11, 2023

Lakers aren’t going 2 play any defense this yr? 7 of 9 gms they’ve given up at least 60 pts at the half. It’s early so I guess I’ll be patient. 😬😬😬😬😬 #Lakers #Suns #InSeasonTournament
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) November 11, 2023

Unless Vanderbilt makes a significant difference in the Lakers’ defensive prowess + rebounding, Lebron James will need to start taking regular season defense seriously

The backcourt simply lacks too much in terms of agility/speed

Hopefully Vincent helps in that regard as well
— LAbound (@LAbound2) November 11, 2023

To their credit, they did come out with the win. But if they want any chance of reaching their major goals this season, the defense will need to get better as the year progresses.

Star LeBron James was just happy to get the win, and he knows that they have time to figure things out. Especially considering that they have been decimated by injury to start the season.

“It was good to just finally get over the hump at this early part of the stage in our season,” James said. “We’ve been playing from behind in a lot of our games and haven’t been able to take the lead in some of the later games that we’ve lost. So that was a good feeling.”

Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic

The Lakers narrowly escaped with a key 122-119 win over an in-season tournament group nemesis on Friday, but they need to start picking up wins consistently. If they don’t they risk themselves having to play catch-up in the standings once again.

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