When it comes to his team’s defensive communication, head coach Byron Scott is sick of the silent treatment.
“That’s the one thing I am browbeating them with,” he said at Monday’s practice. “We talk (in practice) all the time. But we get in the game and act like we’re strangers. Somehow it has to end.”
The Lakers have allowed their opponents to score in triple digits nine times during their 10-game losing streak, while allowing an average of 109.0 points.
Scott said that the entire team needs to communicate better, particularly the young players.
“It’s horrible communication,” Jordan Clarkson said. “(On) ball screens, we all gotta top. Sometimes guards are hitting the screens (and) not hearing the calls. Bigs are getting screened on back screens and we aren’t talking as well, so it’s all communication.”
For some reason, Scott says, that isn’t a problem in practice, but becomes a glaring one during games.
“We talk in practice, we talk on the bus, we talk on the plane,” Scott said. “We get in the game and we act like we’re mute.”
Scott maintained that communication is not something that he could drill into players at practice. He says they simply need to be more vocal on their own.
“We do it (in practice),” D’Angelo Russell said. “We just don’t do it in a game.”
Nance Shut Down
Larry Nance Jr.’s promising rookie season has hit a snag recently, as he will be shut down until after the All-Star Break due to a sore right knee.
“It might take 15 or 16 days, or it might take three weeks — I don’t know,” Scott said. “But whatever it takes, we’re gonna wait till he’s back healthy.”
Nance has missed four of the Lakers’ last seven games after starting 22 in a row. Los Angeles has five more contests before the break begins on Feb. 11.