Why are the Lakers fun to watch despite their defensive struggles and overall inability to win?
Courtesy: NBA.com
This year’s Los Angeles Lakers has been a strange group to say the least. Just shortly after beating the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons last week, I thought to myself that the Lakers might be onto something.
With Nick Young (left), the Lakers were at one time 4-4 after the two wins and their lone bad performance against the Dallas Mavericks.
But then the Lakers let a good lead slip against the Washington Wizards and inexplicably lost by 16, after being down only six with under two minutes to play.
Losing on the road to the Wizards, a strong team isn’t unexpected, but it’s the way they played after a good start.
On Friday, I thought the Lakers would bounce back against the Boston Celtics and they got ran out of TD Garden.
The Lakers lost by 17 and never had a chance in the game, much to the delight of the rather rowdy crowd at the Garden (or Gahden in Bostonian).
So here we are, the Lakers are 5-15, tied with Utah for the second worst record in the Western Conference. It’s hard to say if the Lakers are worse than last year’s debacle under Mike D’Antoni.
The main reason I say this is because the Lakers have had an incredibly difficult schedule so far, with Young being out most of the year. 
Another reason I believe the Lakers are struggling is because of the injury to Julius Randle. Randle (right) wasn’t necessarily going to be a star this season, but with a team that is lacking quality players, especially down low, Randle would’ve been a huge piece to have on the floor.
One thing is for sure, despite the Lakers’ ugly start, they are for the most part a fairly exciting team to watch at times. The Lakers have put up some performances that make you think to yourself there may be hope.
For example, they battled the very physical and team-oriented Memphis Grizzlies (16-4) twice already, beat the Houston Rockets (16-4) and the Atlanta Hawks (13-6) on the road, beat the Raptors (15-5) and lost close games to the Los Angeles Clippers (14-5) and Phoenix Suns (12-9).
With Kobe Bryant playing at the level he has, the Lakers will be a team to watch regardless of their record. The one thing that must change in order for the Lakers to become a good team and not just an entertaining team, is clearly their defense.
I understand the judgement has been beaten like a government mule, but it should be reiterated that the Lakers are allowing 111.2 points a game so far, worst in the league.
They have a long way to go before they become a threat as they just don’t have players with the ability to defend at a high level on a consistent basis. The Lakers’ best chance at winning appears to be against teams that struggle to score, because the teams that are at their best when scoring, pour it on them.
Just look at the last three games and you’ll understand that sentiment.
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