The Lakers cruised to their fifth straight win against the Pelicans on Saturday, but things looked a little shaky in the first half.
It should have been an easy one to find, given how depleted NOLA was due to injuries, but the Lakers trailed by ten at the half due to a lack of defense.
But Anthony Davis, who finished the night with 31 points, 14 rebounds, two steals and a block, wasn’t worried.
“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating,” Davis said. “Because we understand where we are, I mean this is the second night of back to back. Everyone goes through it. And like I said, they were shooting early. We had some good looks early and we missed them. The AR shot one on the side of the backboard wide open, so it doesn’t happen. So we had a good look, we missed the rabbits around the edge.
“We didn’t get too discouraged. We actually had some good defenses, and in the end we held them to 99 points, so our defensive rating I’m sure was good in this game. It was strange where we were struggling, we knew the team would play hard and not give up no matter who they were playing. And who was playing for them. So we had to stay with it, stay connected, stay together and finally get killed on the ground. “
The Lakers ended up being shortchanged on the Pels’ gun selection in the second round, and Lakers coach JJ Redick explained his thinking and what he told his troops at halftime.
“Honestly, our defense was good, at least our first-shot defense in the first half,” Redick said. “I think they shot 36% on their first shot, it was 12 rebounds that killed us. He made it clear that they will crash at a really high rate. And the game would come down to whether they could get more possessions than us. Our guys, I thought in the third quarter, defensively they had a really good mindset. We were able to collect offensive rebounds, which ended up being six, I think in the second half. But, there was really no preparation in the way of defense. It was just to get the f-ing ball, you know? That was all.”
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