Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel has drawn a lot of praise following his decision to introduce the zone defense late in Game 3 against the Denver Nuggets. It was a tremendous decision on the fly, which nearly led to a total collapse by the Nuggets.
In the end, though, the Lakers still came up short. And for Vogel, he refused to take credit for his very impressive coaching in the dying moments:
“We just threw a junk defense out there,” the Lakers coach said, via Sam Amick of The Athletic. “I don’t know if that’s something that’s really sustainable. A lot of times when a team has a big lead you can just kind of make a run at it by throwing a junk defense. It worked in a short burst there. But we’ve just got to be better with who we are, with our base defense, base coverages, and executing offensively better. I thought the shot selection was pretty good. I thought we were still a little too careless with our turnovers. For the most part, I thought we got decent looks, but we can always be better.”
Simply put, Vogel was not happy simply because his team didn't win. His decision to switch to the zone defense may have resulted in six straight Nuggets turnovers and a massive run for the Lakers, but without the W, that was all for nothing.
As he expressed above, the Lakers coach also simply isn't a fan of the zone. This was the first time in his entire coaching career that he resorted to what he calls a “junk defense,” but somehow, it worked to perfection. Well, almost.
It remains to be seen if Vogel will revert back to the zone moving forward as a key adjustment. He will, at the very least, have this in his back pocket if the Lakers need it.
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