By all account, the Lakers weren’t supposed to lose the other day. For one thing, they were in familiar confines and out to protect a spotless record in front of yet another sellout crowd of 18,997. For another, they faced weakened opposition, and not because of the departure of Finals Most Valuable Player Kawhi Leonard. Oddsmakers pegged the Raptors as decided underdogs largely due to the absence of vital cogs Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka. Meanwhile, they were riding on a league-best seven-game win streak that, supposedly, underscored their ascendancy in the face of inspired play from their Dynamic Duo.
Well, the Lakers didn’t just wind up absorbing their second setback in nine outings. They did so after having been exposed as extremely weak in preventing transition baskets. After letting the Raptors hang around in the first half, they became ripe for a shellacking after the break. Throughout their victory run against middling competition, they boasted of improved defensive efficiency. Even then, however, there was a clear chasm between their coverage in the half court and their capacity to contain fastbreaks. They were very, very good in the former, and very, very bad in the latter.
Against the Raptors, the Lakers did just about everything wrong. They were inconsistent on offense, buoyed by the otherworldly efforts of All-Stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James but otherwise mediocre at best in producing points. Meanwhile, they failed to dictate tempo, and became woefully inadequate in preventing the visitors from generating easy baskets; in the third and final quarters, they were blanked in fastbreaks while giving up a whopping 24 points. They were outhustled, turning a sizable lead into what would ultimately be an insurmountable deficit against a starter and four reserves.
James wasn’t worried in the aftermath, but noted that the Raptors “played better.” They certainly showed their championship pedigree, never giving up on any play and at any time in the match. The Lakers, by contrast, remain in flux, outstanding in some moments and poor in others. And unless and until a modicum of consistency is established, the weaknesses will continue to be critical and glaring, not to mention ripe for abuse by supposedly inferior challengers.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
