The LA Lakers didn’t have a great start to the season when they lost two out of their first four matches. However, the team has been able to pick up from there and now they have a 8-3 win-loss ratio out of the 11 matches they have played. Not surprisingly, they are at the top of the standings in the Western Conference.
Meanwhile, LA Lakers talisman Anthony Davis was not at all impressed with the team’s defense after the team had gone down to the San Antonio Spurs by 118-109 on Friday.
Davis had said then, “We gotta be better with our defensive schemes coming out the gate. … We didn’t play any defense. Our defense was sh*t tonight.”
However, the Lakers were able to turn the tables in their defense against Houston Rockets as they restricted their opponents to 102 points and thus managed to win by a comfortable margin of 18 points. It was a much better performance defensively from the reigning champions as they came up with a collective effort.
“I was holding myself accountable mainly, but also holding the team. We got a lot of guys who are really good defensively and we know how good we can be. We know how good we want to be, and it wasn’t shown in the previous games.”
“Tonight we came out very aggressive defensively… and just being more active with our hands, being more active with our bodies… So we just want to dig in a little deeper on the defensive end and make sure that we start picking up the defensive intensity. And start being the defensive team that we know we can be.”
In fact, Anthony Davis did walk the talk as he top scored for the team with 27 points against the Rockets. Meanwhile, the Lakers are currently placed at the fifth place in the defensive ratings for the NBA 2021 season and they have the skills to break into the top three.
On the other hand, Lakers legend LeBron James also stated that they want to be the best defensive team of the league. In fact, the Lakers had won the championship in the previous season because of their strong defense and they will look to replicate the same performances.
The Lakers will once again take on the Houston Rockets on 13th of January.
