LOS ANGELES_One part of Wednesday night's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers at Staples Center figures to be ugly.
Both teams have struggled with their free-throw shooting this year. In fact, only the 76ers and the Charlotte Hornets are shooting worse than the Lakers' 71 percent from the line.
"Some of it's a skill thing," Lakers coach Luke Walton said. "A lot of it for us I think is a focus thing. We do free throws at the end of pretty much every practice. We did a free-throw competition at the end of training camp. The bigs went 12 of 14 and the guards went 13 of 14. They're able to hit free throws and they've had nights where they've shot them really well."
Brook Lopez and Kyle Kuzma are the Lakers' two starters who shoot better than the team average. Lopez has made 83.3 percent of his free throws and Kuzma 81.3 percent. Lonzo Ball has made only 50 percent, with 12 of 24, Brandon Ingram is at 63.8 percent (44 of 69), and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is shooting exactly 71 percent.
"For us it's understanding, one: how important they are and, two: especially for some of the young guys, take your time when you're up there, be confident, breathe, relax and just knock 'em down," Walton said. "I think that'll come with experience and we're going to keep working on them every day."
