Here is what you need to know before the Lakers take on the Detroit Pistons in the Las Vegas Summer League quarterfinals.
1) Hart’s on top
After leading the Lakers past the LA Clippers with a 20-point performance, Josh Hart is your official summer league scoring leader.
The sophomore is averaging 22.5 points on a healthy 46.8 percent mark from the field. Opponents have been helpless from beyond the arc, where he has dropped a whopping 3.5 made 3-pointers per game at a 42.4 percent rate.
Hart’s biggest improvement has been attacking off the dribble, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by Magic Johnson.
“Look at Josh Hart,” the President of Basketball Operations said on Friday. “I mean, he’s playing unbelievable right now in Las Vegas. Some guys better watch out, because he’s going to be pushing to start (in the regular season).
“We told him to work on his ball handling. I had a conversation with him. I told him the one thing he was missing was that he just couldn’t dribble very, very well. But now he can break the defense down off the dribble, off the bounce. He already had a good 3-point shot. It’s better now. Man, he is really playing awesome.”
2) Defense has been stifling
In addition to Hart’s individual dominance, the Lakers’ team defense has been key.
Of their four opponents in Vegas, three have failed to shoot better than 39 percent from the field. That suffocating defense has been at its best from 3-point range, where teams have shot just 23 percent against the Lakers.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Hart has been the Lakers’ primary option on that end of the floor as well. In game one, he was tasked with covering Furkan Korkmaz, who was coming off a 40-point night, and held him to four points.
In a later game, he switched onto a scorching Kevin Knox, who hit just 1-of-6 in the fourth quarter when Hart was his primary defender.
3) The Pistons follow Ellenson’s lead
The top-seeded Lakers are now staring down the No. 25 Pistons squad that went just 1-2 in pool play before squeezing out back-to-back wins over Minnesota and Chicago.
Like the Lakers, Detroit’s defense has been critical to advancing, seeing how only two of its players are even averaging double-digit scoring.
In fact, everything seems to flow through third-year forward Henry Ellenson, who leads the Pistons in points (14.4), rebounds (7.8) and assists (3.2).
Ellenson scored 21 points in Detroit’s last game, putting on a nice display of post scoring. However, he has shot just 29.6 percent from the field and a miserable 5-of-35 on 3’s this summer. If the Pistons are to advance, they will need Ellenson to score efficiently and the Lakers’ offense to have an off game of its own.
Tip-Off: 1 p.m. PT
TV: Spectrum SportsNet in L.A. ESPN nationally
Location: Thomas & Mack Center — Las Vegas, Nevada