{"id":471002,"date":"2025-12-25T15:32:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T15:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/471002\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T15:32:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T15:32:18","slug":"lakers-defense-will-get-a-christmas-day-test-vs-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/471002\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers’ defense will get a Christmas Day test vs. Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PHOENIX\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It\u2019s not the lineups, the injuries or necessarily the system. The cause of the Lakers<\/a>\u2019 defensive demise is a thousand little decisions gone wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes down to just making the choice,\u201d coach JJ Redick<\/a> said after the Lakers gave up 132 points in a blowout loss<\/a> to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s making the choice. There\u2019s shortcuts you can take or you can do the hard thing and you can make the second effort or you can sprint back or you can\u2019t. It\u2019s just a choice and there\u2019s a million choices in a game, and you\u2019re very likely not gonna make every choice correctly. But can you make the vast majority of \u2018em correctly? It gives you a chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this season, the Lakers (19-9) are ranked 28th in defensive rating in the last 14 games entering a Christmas Day showcase against the Houston Rockets at 5 p.m. PST at Crypto.com<\/a> Arena.<\/p>\n

The Lakers, without any individual shutdown defenders, need a perfectly executed team defense to compete. But 15 different starting lineups in 28 games has delayed some of the team\u2019s ability to build continuity. The Lakers have had their full complement of 14 standard contract players for two games.<\/p>\n

Forward Rui Hachimura (groin) and Luka Doncic (leg) could return Thursday. Guard Gabe Vincent, one of the team\u2019s top defensive options on the perimeter, will miss his fourth game with lower-back soreness. Center Jaxson Hayes tweaked his left ankle in the second quarter of Tuesday\u2019s loss and didn\u2019t return.<\/p>\n

The Rockets (17-10) limp into the Christmas Day blockbuster with their own struggles. The team thought to be one of the few who could challenge Oklahoma City in the West has lost five of its last seven games. Three of the losses were in overtime and four came against teams currently out of the play-in picture, including Tuesday\u2019s loss to the Clippers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Led by Kevin Durant\u2019s 25.2 points, the Rockets are a statistical anomaly in the sped up, possession-maximizing modern NBA. They have the third-ranked offense in the league despite being one of the slowest. They shoot the fewest three-pointers per game, but make them at a 40% clip that ranks second, and dominate the glass with NBA-leading 48.7 rebounds and 16.1 offensive rebounds per game. <\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s physicality and expertise on the boards could be especially worrisome for a team that still has to consciously choose defense on a possession-by-possession basis instead of consistently living up to a standard of playing hard. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really no defense, no scheme we can do when we\u2019re giving up offensive rebounds in crucial moments like we are, our [opponents] are getting wherever they want on the court,\u201d guard Marcus Smart<\/a> said after Tuesday\u2019s loss. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no help, there\u2019s no resistance, there\u2019s no urgency. \u2026 It\u2019s on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Suns grabbed 12 offensive rebounds against the Lakers on 35 missed shots, an offensive rebounding rate of 34.3%. After the Suns scored a three-pointer by twice grabbing offensive rebounds off tipped balls, Lakers players had an animated discussion in a timeout with Smart was gesturing toward center Deandre Ayton about tipping rebounds. Ayton, who finished with 10 rebounds and 12 points, and Smart ended the timeout with a high-five.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I need to] just continue to talk to guys, even though sometimes they might not want to hear it,\u201d said Smart, a free-agent addition the Lakers coveted for his leadership and tenacity on defense. \u201cEspecially when we losing, nobody wants to hear it, myself included, but also understand that it\u2019s integral for us to hear those things, to see and to be able to talk to one another and figure it out as players on the court, because we\u2019re the ones out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redick intentionally built in moments for players to connect and communicate during every timeout this season before coaches speak. The strategy was meant to encourage players to take a larger leadership role. \u201cChampionship communication\u201d was one of the team\u2019s three pillars.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers center Jaxson Hayes, left, foulds Clippers guard James Harden on a layup during their game Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Along with \u201cchampionship shape,\u201d Redick also asked his team to build \u201cchampionship habits.\u201d Living up to the mantras is easier said than done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the easy choice,\u201d Redick said. \u201cIt\u2019s human nature. \u2026 We do it on a daily basis. We make easy choices cause it\u2019s comfortable. Comfortable doesn\u2019t win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It\u2019s not the lineups, the injuries or necessarily the system. The cause of the Lakers\u2019 defensive demise is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":471003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[17378,68967,41222,185415,1582,276,1910,19176,2961,8604,3363,224,5337,3365,11148,164310,5950,7231,3007,5618],"class_list":{"0":"post-471002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-bench","10":"tag-blowout-loss","11":"tag-bouyea","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-california","14":"tag-game","15":"tag-injury","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-lakers","18":"tag-lebron-james","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-luka-doncic","22":"tag-minute","23":"tag-most-point","24":"tag-season","25":"tag-suns","26":"tag-team","27":"tag-tuesday"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}