Lakers will be the new Suns, unless...

[Erik Eleven]

... they start playing defense and holding teams to around 80 points on a regular basis. They also need to start showing that they can turn up the defense an extra notch in the fourth quarter, especially during crunch time pivotal moments. If they don't, they won't get past the Spurs nor the Celtics or the Pistons.

They have proven all season that they can score as well as any other team. They haven't proven that they can shut teams down at all yet. Much like the Suns of the last four years.

Not to be a downer here, but if we're going to be completely honest here, teams still score too many points on us. Defense wins championships.

My suggestion,

Let's do the taco thing at 80

[Desiderium]

once we get ariza and bynum back, we should be ok defensively. we wont be the best, but we will have our moments. a team with kobe/turiaf/ariza/bynum/fisher have enough defensive players imo

[TommyTheCat]

once we get ariza and bynum back, we should be ok defensively. we wont be the best, but we will have our moments. a team with kobe/turiaf/ariza/bynum/fisher have enough defensive players imo

yeah, i pretty much agree with that. bynum and ariza being back will be a huge upgrade for our defense. pau gets pushed around in the low post vs centers but seems to be pretty good with his weak side help. bynum being there turns pau's negative into a positive.

[RUSSDUCK]

I think the Laker's play ok D. I don't expect it to get much better until next year. While I will be definitely happy if we can win a championship this year, I am not expecting it. I am happy to have team that competes every night. But next year the defensive Issues will be solved, as Kobe will not want to lose a game and his mates will turn it up another notch. Having Bynum and Ariza back will make a difference I guess all we can do is wait and see.

[tkb]

We've been top 6 in defense this season, so I don't think we have a huge problem. Pace dictates how many points are scored usually. I'd set the taco thing at 90 though instead of 100.

Or how about we just have tacos when the team wins?

[semi-sentient]

I'd be quite happy if we just held teams to around 97 or 98 PPG with this current group, which is precisely what we've done since February 1st. It's a good start, and it's also been done without two of our better defenders (Bynum and Ariza). Once we get those guys back, our defense improves and I'm willing to bet that we'll be holding teams to around 95 PPG, which is stellar considering how potent our offense is. Also, in 11 out of 16 games we held our opponents to less than 100 points, so clearly we have made strides towards becoming a better defensive team.

I think defense is the key to using winning a championship, so it's just a matter of getting guys to step up to the plate and play with intensity night in and night out.

[BallAboveAll]

The defense has been pretty mediocore. But even though Pau has been pushed around the effort is still there. And his length is still good enough contesting shots around the basket. I think we will be fine. You have to remember we aren't the Suns. We may get up and down, but our key star Kobe actually plays good defense. Also remember we actually have an offense to fall back on in the half court. Oh yeah and we have a bench too relieve our starters.

Even our shooters Famar, Sasha, and Fisher have decent quickness. And try to atleast make it hard for opposing guards. Lamar has underrated defense he gives a good effort most of the time. Our defense has only looked bad against Portland in my opinion because we left 3 point shooters open.

The only team to attack us on the inside is San Antonio.

[8'sReverse]

Consistantly hold teams around 80 points? Change tacos to 80 instead of 100 after last year's 90? Not going to happen...

The best defensive teams, Pistons/Celtics/Spurs, don't even come close to consistantly holding teams around 80 points per game... they allow 90.20/90.56/90.79 respectivly.

I agree defense has to be our focus and that defense will greatly increase our chances of a championship and/or a successful playof run, but, realistically, holding teams around 90-95 points would be a better focus.

Plus, remember, we're a better offensive team than those three... more scoring is more possessions for each team, which greatly increases the chances of the opponent scoring more... great defense or not!

[coach-bdj]

EE - you are so right on! i was talking to a buddy of mine at work and we were saying the same thing. we are giving up WAY too many points. During the regular season is one thing, but come the playoffs, we are looking for trouble.

My suggestion, Let's do the taco thing at 80

[Big Bird]

^^ Agree with Scandalouzzzz and others.

I actually think we're not doing all that horrible on defense (not saying that it's good). It seems more like that we have stretches of bad defense (like the first quarter of the Orlando game for example) and then play a better stretch. We're too inconsistent, but as far as stats indicate we're still the 5th team defense-wise. Of course this team will not be a defensive power like Detroit, Boston or San Antonio even when Bynum and Ariza get back, but that should at least prevent some of the offensive rebounding which has been causing some problems and strolls in the paint with another 7-footer (who is vastly more defensive oriented than Gasol) to throw into the mix. Pair that with this offense and I think we'll be good.

But even with the way things are now... the last year's Suns ain't got nothing on this team. That team is simply pathetic on defense.

peace

[ocoast2005]

our defense needs to be thougher.. were giving up too many touch fouls.
we badley need an enforcer that occassionaly knocks guys down.
giving up too many easy baskets +1 on silly fouls.how many times we see our guys get pushed around or fouled hard.
then the other team comes down and drives in the lane ..basket +1 on a touch foul trying to block..
make mbenga the enforcer bring him in just to foul hard on guys driving the lane.

[Italianhanger]

we will be in the one of the top defensive teams in the west, which is pretty good. will we be tops in the league, most likely not but we sure as hell wont be one of the worse ones. as someone ahead stated we are a top 5-6 defensive team in the league and the fact that we are a top3 offensive team. i say we have a good balance than most teams in the nba which is more fuel into the fire that the rest of the league hating on us. The-Championship-Contending-car-window-flag wearing-Lakers are back

[LAKESHOW]

as of today yes. but we should see how it looks with ariza and bynum back. the toughness of the defense, is not toughness on the perimeter. the toughness of the defense is lack of strength on the inside. thats why they are not tough. pau gets thrown around like a rag doll. but when guarding nowitzky on the outside, paus length got to him to throw up an airball.

but on the inside? very weak.

i think the toughness question is stopping the layup drills and pounding the glass and coming away with the ball after a single shot. rather than what weve been doing. giving up multiple shots on multiple posessions.

[semi-sentient]

we badley need an enforcer that occassionaly knocks guys down.

Two words: Derek Fisher

When the playoffs start, he knows what to do to take opposing PG's out of their game. Veterans like him are invaluable come playoff time because they know when to knock guys on their ass. Horry is a classic example of this, as he virtually caused the Suns to lose that series against the Spurs with his hard foul on Nash.

We do need other guys to do that, particular against opposing bigs. I don't think Bynum and Gasol have it in them to play like that, but Lamar Odom does, when he puts his mind to it. I've seen him do it several times in the regular season, but it was out of frustration. He needs to do that in the playoffs to send a message that we won't be giving up easy layups, and that will effectively give us two hard foulers in our starting unit.

[tracey_nice]

Lakers...Suns? oxymoron ? .......First the Lakers don't have a coach who essentially preaches no defense. Second the Lakers also have there best player extremely committed to defense. And third the only weakness with LA's D is really defensive rebounding which will be accounted for when Bynum returns.

[semi-sentient]

Also, watching the Mavs game, they seem to know how to do this quite well. Dampier gave a hard foul every single time someone came inside after beating their man. He is their enforcer.

Irk does this also, but the difference is his fouls are typically of the flagrant variety. Being the superstar of that team, he shouldn't be the one giving those types of fouls, but since the league apparently lets him slide, might as well.

[TommyTheCat]

Also, watching the Mavs game, they seem to know how to do this quite well. Dampier gave a hard foul every single time someone came inside after beating their man. He is their enforcer.

Irk does this also, but the difference is his fouls are typically of the flagrant variety. Being the superstar of that team, he shouldn't be the one giving those types of fouls, but since the league apparently lets him slide, might as well.

after damps fouls on kobe, phil should have sent dj in there to nail dirk or kidd. if you're gonna have a guy like dj on your team, you might as well get some use out of him

[Kirk Moon]

its panic time, we need to trade Lamar now!

[SashAlex]

When we get those two guys back, we're gonna be alright. I agree with Erike Eleven that there's another picture in the playoffs. The game gets a lot more physical, there's more pressure on the court, each made 3 pt. shot in the 4th is more valuable, as wel as the rotation will be reduced.I suppose that guys like Walton, Sasha, Radmanovic, even with their 3 pt. shot, Ronny will get reduced minutes because teams like Spurs, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix will not you get away as easy as you want. The playoffs are gonna be tough, as they've always been...

[TheFatArastotle]

We have the third best scoring differential in the league. As far as 80ppg, Detroit is statistically the best defensive team in the league at 90ppg... oh yeah, we also have the best perimeter defender in the league and Bynum is top 10 in blocks... its all good