We know that closing games has not exactly been L.A.'s strong suit this season. In fact, since the All-Star break, the Lakers have a 4-10 record despite not losing a single game by more than nine points.
“(That) has a lot to do with the personnel; we’ve got to get better, there’s no doubt about that," said coach Byron Scott. "Our guys have been fighting their butts off all season long. We’ve got a ton of injuries, but that’s no excuse, we still have to do a better job of executing in the fourth quarter.”
The team's closer, Kobe Bryant, hasn't played in 31 games. Their best remaining shot creator, Nick Young, has missed 12 straight. Steve Nash and Julius Randle have played a combined one game all season.
But among the primary reasons the Lakers have continued to be competitive despite that lack of scoring punch has been a consistent effort on and devotion to the backboard.
In L.A.'s narrow loss to Utah on Thursday, they out-rebounded an opponent for the seventh consecutive time, collecting 43 boards to 36 for the Jazz, increasing their overall margin over that stretch to 74.
Against Utah, another team that plays a big front line, Tarik Black posted 10 window cleans, using his athleticism to help limit Jazz center Rudy Gobert – who had been averaging 17 boards in Utah's previous nine games – to just seven rebounds. Jordan Hill added 10 of his own, against seven boards from Jazz power forward Derrick Favors.
It shouldn't be a huge surprise: L.A. often has an advantage on the glass by playing four boarding big men – Hill and Black starting with Ed Davis and Carlos Boozer coming off the pine – that are all capable of grabbing double-digit boards on their own. With some exception, the Lakers have gone with more of a traditional power forward, as opposed to the stretch four that many teams utilize for at least parts of games.
In L.A.'s previous game — a narrow road loss to the NBA's best team in Golden State — the Lakers collected 45 rebounds to the Warriors’ 37; the night before, they produced a 20-board edge over Atlanta.
The guards have been helping out, with Jordan Clarkson grabbing 4.5 boards per game since the break in his 29.6 minutes, plus 3.4 from Wayne Ellington and 3.0 from Jeremy Lin.
For the season, the Lakers rank 12th in rebounds per game with 52.5 per night, just 1.0 board per night outside of the 7th spot. They're 10th on the offensive glass (11.6) and 13th on the defensive glass (32.5), all numbers that have been going up of late.
It's Scott's hope that things improve down the stretch of games for the remaining contests on the schedule in terms of offensive execution.
But one thing he's been able to count on of late has been his team's performance on the glass.