But a quick look at league-wide statistics tells a much different story than the standings. The Lakers’ 115.8 offensive rating is 15th in the league, their 113.3 defensive rating is 14th, their 3-point percentage is 26th, their turnover rate is 28th, their rebound rate is 11th, their assist rate is 21st and their point differential on the season is 15th. By almost every major metric, they are a middling team.
After the Lakers avoided a late upset by the Utah Jazz on Sunday night to win their fourth straight game and go 12-4, Smart tried to answer how he has such a good record while revealing nothing about his statistics, as seen on Spectrum Sportsnet:
“Just our resiliency. It’s something new for us every game that allows us to do that in those crunches. We have some vets on our team that do a really good job of controlling the tempo, controlling the anger, controlling the emotions and making sure we get the job done. We’re definitely going to shoot better, we play a lot harder. It’s part of the game, we just have to keep shooting.”
Smart continued to discuss the 3-point shooting that has plagued the Lakers and some other issues he’s seen, and why he and the purple and gold aren’t worried about it long term:
“Sure. I mean, we’re winning games and we’re one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league. And some of the defensive problems we’re having, we have guys coming back, guys coming out, guys playing different positions and things like that. So once we get back on track, those things clear up along with our shooting. And you’ll see a different team. But we’re going to win games in different ways. Very optimistic.”
The Lakers strongly believe that some of their negative statistics are anomalies and can be corrected over time. Only time will tell whether the statistics will eventually correct themselves to match the record, or whether the record will correct itself to match the statistics.
But for now, flexibility and leaning on veteran leadership has gotten L.A. this far.
JJ Redick credits Lakers defense for win over Jazz
The Lakers came out of Salt Lake City with a win over the Jazz on Sunday night, their second consecutive win over Utah and their fourth consecutive win overall.
Starting center Deandre Ayton was ruled out of the game for the entire second half – the extent of his injury is still unknown – leading to Maxi Kleber being asked to play 14 minutes, while backup guard Gabe Vincent was asked to play 20 minutes. Kleber entered the game for Jackson Hayes at 6:59 of the third quarter, when the Jazz were ahead of the Lakers 72–68.
Kleber played the rest of the third quarter, as the Lakers outscored the Jazz 16–9 in the final seven minutes to retake the lead. Utah scored only 13 more points between the start of the fourth and the 2:52 mark, bringing their total to 22 points in the 16-minute period.
After the game Redick credited Kleber and Vincent for stepping up and said defense was the reason for LA’s win over Utah.
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