Lakers-Nets: Los Angeles Puts Questions of Softness to Rest

As much as things change with the Lakers, they still remain same.

That is, before the second half of tonight’s matchup with the New Jersey Nets.

Going into the game, the Lakers were off to the best record in the NBA at 11-1—the team’s best since the 2002 season, when they won the title.

The Lakers began this season by rolling off seven-straight wins. In each of those contests, they held their opponents to under 100 points. They won four of them by 18 points or more.

They were leading the NBA in defense, steals, turnovers, and points off turnovers. Quite a difference from a year ago.

Then they ran into the Detroit Pistons, and suddenly it looked as though the Lakers might be having a relapse. Once again, it was suspect defense and the Lakers’ propensity for softness that threatened another run at the NBA title.

They gave up their first 100-point game of the season to the Pistons and newly-acquired Alan Iverson, and quite appropriately lost, 106-95.

In their next four games, two of their opponents, Chicago and Sacramento, scored over 100 points. Although the Lakers won, they gave up large, double-digit leads in both of those games.

In Sunday night’s game against the Kings, they gave up 30 points on 18 turnovers—a season high so far for the Lakers. Although they shot 51 percent, they allowed Sacramento to shoot 53 percent.

It became apparent that maybe things were not so different after all. Are the new-look Lakers slipping back into their old ways?

Andrew Bynum, one of the key defenders who has given the Lakers that new look, thought that could be the case.

“We’re failing on both ends,” Bynum said. “I’m failing to get out there early and then if I do ever get out there early, we fail to pick up my guy. So, we’ve got a lot of work.”

But it wasn’t the big men that were giving the Lakers trouble. It was the quick guards and the dribble penetration that was putting all sorts of chinks in the Lakers defense.

Sunday night, Sacramento’s guards—John Salmons, Bobby Brown, and Bobby Jackson—put in 60 of the Kings’ 108 points. They had little problem getting to the basket, evidenced by their red-hot 57.7-percent shooting average, hitting 26 of their 45 tries.

That didn’t please Lakers coach Phil Jackson at all. “You stop that (the dribble penetration) and usually the ball stops. We didn’t do a relatively good job on defense, I thought, containing some of the better guards last week.”

In fact, when any of the NBA’s premier guards drove to the basket, the Lakers middle seemed to part like the Red Sea.

Jackson thought that tonight’s game against the New Jersey Nets would present another challenge with Nets’ guards Devin Harris and Vince Carter driving down the lane.

And it did—in the first half, when Harris scored most of his team-high 21 points.

Then something unusual happened. Former Laker and TV commentator Rick Fox called out the Lakers during the halftime TV wrap up. He said they weren’t “mentally tough enough” to play defense.

Somehow, his comment found its way down to the Lakers locker room, and the new-look Lakers came out with a new-look attitude.

In the second half, the Lakers’ defense collapsed around the basket and cut off the lane, forcing the Nets to take perimeter shots for the most part.

Limiting the dribble penetration, the Lakers held the Nets to just 39 points after giving up 54 in the first half.

While the Lakers only led by two points at halftime, they outscored New Jersey 64-39 after the break to notch a 27-point win, 120-93.

The victory upped the Lakers’ record to 12-1, the second-best start in team history. Only the 2002 NBA Champion Lakers had a better one, going 16-1 out of the gate.

Should this Lakers team repeat as Western Conference champions and gain home-court advantage in the Finals matchup, you can circle tonight’s second half as the turning point in their season.

Tonight, the Lakers found the mental toughness needed to play defense in the NBA. But can they keep that attitude going through the long NBA regular season and throughout the grueling playoffs?

For the Lakers, Pau Gasol had a game-high 26 points to go with his eight rebounds and three assists. Jordan Farmar had 18 points with three assists and four of the Lakers 10 steals.

When asked what he thought about the Lakers winning by 27 points while Kobe Bryant scored merely 12, Phil Jackson said, “It’s a good sign.”