Lakers Defense Must Improve

The Lakers made things interesting, but a rather lackadaisical performance for a large portion of the game has this young team in an unfamiliar place. Staring at an 0-2 deficit, the Lakers must deal with what all three of their playoff opponents had to face: going home with an uphill battle confronting them. Phil Jackson’s team has been the ultimate front-runner through the playoffs, using their home court advantage in the West Playoffs to bury their opponents early on and carrying that momentum into their road games. Now, they go home down in a series for the first time. Sunday’s 108-102 loss came with a silver lining, though, as the Lakers continued to fight even when facing a 24-point deficit. Their refusal to quit almost brought them all the way back, but at least it gives this team confidence heading home.

In Game 2, the Lakers were done in by their defense, or I should say lack thereof. Vladimir Radmanovic salvaged a terrible game by coming up with a few clutch plays during the Lakers’ blitzing fourth quarter comeback, but in the big scheme of things, the Lakers small forward has been thoroughly abused by Paul Pierce. Much has been made about the dramatics Pierce caused with his injury in the first game, but the real story here is his willingness to carry his team on his back. Since the first half of Game 1, Pierce has been the best player on the court, making all his shots from downtown and getting the Lakers into foul trouble with his penetration. No player has felt this wrath as much as Radmanovic, who just looks overmatched by his counterpart at the three. The veteran has taken it upon himself to set the tone for Boston, and has responded by playing two of his best all-around games of these playoffs. This has eased the load off KG and Ray Allen, who have taken advantage of their opportunities like the superstars that they are.

Pierce’s aggressiveness speaks to the dominating edge the Celtics earned with their free throws, especially on Sunday night. In Game 2, they shot 28 more free throws than Los Angeles and the 17 extra points they got from the charity stripe was the difference in the game. Offensively, the Lakers shot the ball well; Kobe got his 30 points and the bench even contributed five 3-pointers. But, the lack of those easy points from the line took its toll on LA and it’s something that will need to be addressed. When Boston is penetrating inside, they are drawing contact and getting the foul (according to the officials). However, the Lakers haven’t been getting those calls down low. Call it bad officiating or good defense by Boston, but it’s something that turned both games at the Garden toward the home teams favor. You can bet that disparity from the line will probably be flipped in the Staples Center, an important note that can alter the course of the series.

If you had said before the game that unheralded Leon Powe would outplay Lamar Odom, you would have been crazy. But, Powe played the best game of his career and gave the Celtics a jolt from somewhere that no one could have seen coming. Throughout the playoffs, the Lakers have gotten huge contributions from their bench, and it’s allowed them to torture their opponents. Powe took on that role for the Celtics all by himself, outscoring both Odom and Pau Gasol, while filling in for Kendrick Perkins, who battled foul trouble all night.

Despite being down 0-2 heading home, the Lakers must understand that with a better sense of urgency on defense, they can turn this series around. That means Gasol and Odom must show some toughness and battle under the boards. They’ve looked like finesse players early in this series while Boston’s big men have outmuscled them and scored huge rebounds. The Lakers closed the rebounding gap in Game 2, but still missed out on critical loose balls with the game on the line.

As stated earlier, LA has started to find their groove on offense and will be given a big boost by playing at Staples Center where their bench becomes exponentially better. Kobe was much more efficient with his points in Game 2. In addition, he dished out eight assists and stayed out of foul trouble in the second half. As much credit as the Boston defense is getting for playing him, the league MVP is still finding a way to get his points and set up his teammates. As a team, the Lakers shot 49% from the field and went an outstanding 10-21 (47%) from the 3-point line in Game 2. You can bet that the Lakers will probably win if they get 30 from Bryant and hit double-digit 3-pointers at home. Just as long as they don’t let Pierce hit 100% of his 3-pointers and let an unheralded guy like Powe torch them for the game of his career.