The Lakers fell to a 120-130 loss at the hands of the Sacramento Kings in their last outing, a loss which dropped them to the No. 10 seed in the West. Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox combined for 70 points in the game, and Anthony Davis didn’t seem pleased with how Darvin Ham prepared the team’s defense for that matchup.
“Some of the things we were in defensively allowed De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk to get whatever they want, live in the paint. If I go help then Sabonis is wide open, so they did a good job in manipulating what we were doing.”
This is an interesting answer from AD: "Some of the things we were in defensively… allowed De'Aaron Fox, Malik Monk to get whatever they want." (via @SpectrumSN) pic.twitter.com/C2OOfU8r9f
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) March 7, 2024
Darvin Ham had discussed the Lakers defensive plan for Fox and Monk after the game, with the unconvincing strategy being made public.
“We came out with a plan to force him to his right hand and force Malik to his left hand. We didn’t do a great job of that in real-life game action. They’re tough, both of those guys are tough because they make the shots you trying to give up like those tough twos. When we did force a miss, Sabonis was able to get active.”
Anthony Davis had a rough night against Sacramento, dropping just 14 points while being out-rebounded 11 to 20 by Domantas Sabonis. Credit to him as he limited Sabonis from having a big scoring night, but the cost of that was Fox and Monk torching the Lakers on the perimeter and finding easy ways to attack the rim.
Anthony Davis Is The Key For The Lakers Success
One of the main reasons the Lakers could go on an incredible second-half run last season was the fact that AD was healthy and performing at a high level. Even if his offense can be inconsistent at times, nobody can question his impact defensively. Davis single-handedly carries the Lakers defense.
With the Kings using fast guards and putting a tough cover like Sabonis on AD, they were able to exploit the lack of defensive skill on this roster.
Even LeBron James spoke about this after the game, citing AD getting in foul trouble as the pivotal point where the team’s defense fell off.
“It evaporated when AD picked up his second. It’s that simple. If you have someone like that, that controls so much of our defense, when he picked up his second in the first quarter and we had to make the sub, our defense kind of just fluttered after that.”
The Lakers blew an early 17-point lead as the Kings quickly adjusted toward the end of the first quarter of their game. From that moment on, they controlled the game and outscored the Lakers by 24 points in the second quarter. Davis was not put in a position to succeed defensively, especially with the banal game plan for the team to stop Fox and Monk.
They can’t afford such tactical missteps going forward, especially ahead of a tricky matchup against the Bucks tonight.
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