The Los Angeles Lakers came into this season with a quiet confidence and excitement, knowing they had, at least on paper, what looked like a championship-caliber roster. They knew their roster wasn’t perfect, but they also knew it had a great deal of potential.
If their potential was the dean’s list, so far they’re on academic probation.
They fell to 3-5 on Wednesday by getting their doors blown off, 128-94, by the Houston Rockets, a team that likely will not make the playoffs this season. It was never really a contest. L.A. came out as dry offensively as the Santa Ana winds that have been howling through Southern California this week.
Their biggest two problems this season have been defensive rebounding and slow starts. In fact, they haven’t been simply starting slowly; they’ve been doing so with historic ineptitude.
How bad have the Lakers' slow starts been?
Sometimes, a good or great team will start off somewhat slowly because it is an older team or because it plays slowdown basketball, only to bear down on opponents in the second half of games. But the Lakers aren’t an old team, and they do not like to play slowdown basketball. They also don’t excel at it.
They’re simply starting off games very poorly all around. Through eight games, they may be the worst ever in that department.
Via ESPN:
“Through eight games, the Lakers have been outscored by 74 points in first quarters, which is the worst margin through eight games in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research,” wrote Dave McMenamin.
As bad as L.A. has been on its defensive boards, it isn’t the only reason it has been starting games so poorly. It has also had a simple inability to hit shots from the outside.
The Lakers cannot throw a pea in the ocean
The Lakers have never been an elite 3-point shooting team. During the LeBron James era, they have regularly finished in the bottom third of the NBA in 3-point accuracy. But it has been even worse this season.
They rank dead last in that category (29.6%). It is a repeat of last season when they couldn’t buy a trey in the opening weeks of the schedule. However, it is worse than that, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
In each of the Lakers' games this season, they've:
– Made fewer threes than their opponent
– Shot a worse percentage from three than their opponentThey're the first team in NBA history to do that in each of the first 8 games of a season. pic.twitter.com/xLCEunO0s6
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 9, 2023
A few weeks ago, it looked like L.A.’s 3-point shooting would be at least somewhat improved thanks to the additions of Taurean Prince and Christian Wood. While both are doing their job (Wood is at 41.7% and Prince is at 39.3% from downtown through Wednesday), no one else has been pulling their weight in that category.
