featured-image

Scott Calls for Consistent Defense

This past week, the Lakers knocked off a pair of playoff teams in back-to-back road games. But head coach Byron Scott is focused on what happened two days later when his team surrendered 140 points in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

“I really felt after that game that … (the Lakers) were pretty happy with the first two wins and forgot about the last game,” Scott said. “(They) felt more satisfied than anything to go home 2-1. And I’m greedy. You win two, you got one more on the road trip — why not try to go for the third one?”

The Lakers, who are yielding a league-high 112.5 points per game, played passable defense against Atlanta (109 points) and held Houston below the century mark (92). But that defensive progression fell apart when the Lakers allowed the Mavericks to shoot 62.2 percent en route to their highest point total in five years.

“Sometimes I do feel like I’m talking to myself when I’m talking about the defensive end of the floor and just trying to stress how important it is to our guys each and every night,” Scott said. “Because there’s nights, obviously Atlanta and Houston, when we do things that we talk about. And then there’s nights like Dallas when we just don’t.”

Trio Rests
Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin were all given Saturday’s practice off to rest. Scott particularly wanted Bryant to take the opportunity to recover.

The head coach said his “workaholic” shooting guard may have tried to prepare himself too much before the Dallas game, leading to Bryant missing his first eight shots.

“He went to the gym that afternoon and made 300 shots,” Scott said. “Sometimes that can hurt you more than help you. And I think it kind of wore him out for the game.”

D-Fenders Assignment
Xavier Henry and Jordan Clarkson will suit up for the Los Angeles D-Fenders’ game against the Idaho Stampede tonight. The duo played for the Lakers D-League affiliate in its home opener on Nov. 15 and poured in a combined 61 points.

Henry dropped a game-high 33 points (12-for-20), while Clarkson racked up 28 (8-for-20), though the D-Fenders lost to the Texas Legends,130-108.