The Lakers are back in action when they travel to Sacramento to face off against the Kings on Sunday night. The game tips off at 6:00 pm PT on Spectrum SportsNet and Spectrum SportsNet+, with game coverage starting at 5:00 p.m.
Below are three things to know ahead of the matchup:
A LITERAL BIG 3
A byproduct of the Lakers preseason approach of resting some of their key starters and taking an appropriately cautious approach towards any player ailment was that they did not get a chance to build on their continuity of roster and get more reps together as a full group.
This has shifted some of this cohesion building and learning of what groups can function well together to the start of the regular season. Because of this approach, there will be some bumps in the road and not every grouping will yield results worthy of continued investment. Such are the growing pains of a new season.
One grouping that is showing early positive returns, however, are the lineups in which the Lakers are playing a bigger frontline with LeBron James and Anthony Davis flanked by Christian Wood. Through two games, this trio has shared the court for 18 minutes and, in that time the Lakers are a whopping +32.
More than half of that positive plus-minus comes from the +17 from the team's 4th quarter comeback vs. the Suns where, led by that big frontcourt trio playing the entire quarter together, the Lakers turned a 12-point deficit into a 100-95 victory. Accounting for that, though, shows the Lakers are still a +15 in six minutes those three have played together besides that 4th quarter vs. the Suns.
*insert this video here* https://www.nba.com/lakers/videos/christian-woods-defense-vs-phx-10-26-23
Of course, it is early with small samples, and it's unrealistic for the Lakers to continue to win their minutes with LeBron, AD, and Wood by nearly two points for every minute they're on the court together. Still, though, it's encouraging to see this sort of success early as Coach Ham seeks out lineup solutions for different portions of the game.
OUTSIDE SHOOTING
A not as positive trend early this season is the Lakers outside shooting. Coming off a preseason that saw the Lakers shoot the three-point shot with a decent volume (36 attempts per game, 18th for NBA teams) and with good accuracy (36.1%, 9th for NBA teams), neither trend has carried forward to the regular season thus far.
Through two games, the Lakers are attempting 29 three-pointers a game, which is 2nd lowest number in the NBA. In terms of accuracy, they've hit just 25.9% of those attempts, ranking last in the league.
Just like with the lineup data cited above, it is too early in the season and too small a sample to come to conclusions about the Lakers shooting. A high-volume, high-accuracy game vs. the Kings can stabilize these numbers and change the outlook entirely.
That said, the Lakers do need to find ways to increase the volume of the threes they are taking and to make the ones that are deemed quality looks. Through two games, 50 of their 58 attempts from distance have been classified as "open" (22 of 58) or "wide open" (28 of 58) by the NBA and the Lakers have shot 31.8% and 28.6% on those shots respectively.
KINGS SPEED
The Kings offer a variety of challenges for opposing defenses and the Lakers will be no exception to that. In De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento has a dynamic inside-outside attack who can both swap roles in ways that spread out opponents and make their choices harder.
Sabonis' ability to initiate the offense from the top of the floor allows the Fox and the other Kings' perimeter threats opportunities to slash towards the rim, which not only gets them scoring chances in the paint, but opens back up the perimeter for threes when the defense collapses.
If zeroing in on one area of focus for the Lakers defense, however, it will be the general pace the Kings play at and their team speed across their roster. Sacramento is playing at the 4th fastest pace in the league through two games, and with players like Fox and Malik Monk pushing the ball consistently, it's easy to see why. Further, the Kings often play combo forwards and/or traditional wings in both frontcourt positions next to their centers, only adding to the ranginess of their group and how easily they change ends.
And while the Kings have not been a high-volume transition offense team through their first two games (7.5 fast break points per game, last in the NBA), it should not surprise if they try to hunt those opportunities against a Lakers team that has admittedly said this is an area of their defense they need to improve in. Much like Nuggets, the Kings entire starting lineup can turn a defensive rebound into a transition chance, with Sabonis being a good grab-and-go player who does not need to outlet the ball after securing a rebound to begin a fast break.
The Lakers will need to be cognizant of the Kings leveraging their collective speed and team ball handling ability in transition, turning some of the micro-decisions they make once their own shot goes up more meaningful. Determining when they should crash the offensive glass vs. turning to run back or when to linger in the back court or when to turn and run can be the difference between giving up two points or not; the difference between giving the Kings an advantage against an unbalanced floor that leads to a defensive scramble or not.