These are the issues the Lakers have to address in order to make another deep playoff run.
Only two weeks remain in the regular season for the Los Angeles Lakers. A team that was seen as one of the favorites in the Western Conference in preseason will continue to fight tooth and nail just to get to the playoffs.
Injuries took a toll on this team all throughout the season. But even with as many inconsistencies as they have had, there is every reason to believe the Lakers can still make a deep run in the playoffs. After their improbable run to the Western Conference Finals last year, nothing is completely off the table.
But in order to find themselves playing deep into May and June, there are a few key issues LA must address. These are three problems the Lakers absolutely must solve if they are to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy this season.
Give Hayes minutes against big teams
There has been a commonality in terms of the teams the Lakers have struggled against this season. They have clearly had the most trouble against teams who employ big frontcourts, with centers and big wings that play a very physical style.
That is why the Nuggets and Kings have been LA’s biggest Achilles heel this year. The Lakers own a combined 0-7 record against those teams, largely due to the play of Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis.
Anthony Davis is still an all-world player and has been enjoying one of the best, most consistent seasons of his career. But he continues to find matchup problems with physical centers that can wear him down. With that in mind, Head Coach Darvin Ham should consider countering by playing Jaxson Hayes in spurts against teams like Denver and Sacramento.
LA should not expect Hayes to come in and solve all their problems with the snap of a finger, but his presence should help simply for the fact he can take away from AD’s heavy workload in those scenarios.
Stop playing Taurean Prince big minutes
After coming to Los Angeles on a team-friendly deal last summer, there was plenty to be excited about when it came to Taurean Prince. He had just finished up two seasons in Minnesota where he showed he is still a reliable three-and-D wing, helping the Timberwolves to back-to-back playoff appearances.
But unfortunately, when Prince got to the Lakers he was thrust into a starting role that he largely did not need to be in. He was relied too heavily upon for much of the first half of the season, which led to some struggles at both ends of the floor and increasing frustration from the fanbase.
There is one statistic that nearly perfectly explains how to fix the Taurean Prince problem. In games this season where he has played 24 minutes or more, the Lakers hold just a 19-28 record (40% winning percentage), whereas their record when he plays less than 24 minutes is 20-4 (83% winning percentage).
That is a stark contrast, and it should be enough to consider scaling back his workload as the regular season winds down. LA has several guys who can operate in the same role as Prince, so he does not need to be such a heavy contributor as the stakes continue to increase.
Don’t discount importance of seeding
We are all aware of how seeding works in the NBA Play-In at this point. At the end of the regular season, teams in the seven-eight range only need to win one game to secure their playoff spot, while teams in the nine-ten range have to win two in order to beat out a team above them.
Of course, plenty of NBA players will tell you they do not care about the way the seeds wind up at the end of the regular season. The mentality from a lot of guys in the league is “if we make it into the field, we believe we can beat anyone.”
You can count LeBron James as one of those players. He told media after LA’s win over Philadelphia that the team is not focused on seeding. While not worrying too much about the future and instead focusing on the present can be a good thing, it seems he and the Lakers are simply not taking their situation seriously enough.
The team has to avoid being in the nine-ten range at all costs. For one, the numbers massively favor a team in the seven-eight range in terms of securing a playoff spot. But also, putting this Lakers team in back-to-back “win or go home” scenarios would be a recipe for disaster.
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