The Los Angeles Lakers got blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers 143-120, and head coach Luke Walton continues to emphasize the team's need to play better defense.
“We’ve gotta find our passion to play defense again,” Luke Walton says.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) February 10, 2019
The Lakers have struggled to get stops against the Sixers, who scored 76 first-half points. They have allowed Philly to score at least 33 points in all four quarters.
Defense has been one of the Lakers' strengths this season, but injuries to their key players over the past two months have prevented them from getting any type of momentum going.
LeBron James (groin) and Rajon Rondo (hand) missed almost the entire month of January due to injuries. Meanwhile, Lonzo Ball went down with an ankle sprain late last month and is in the third week of a projected six-week recovery period.
Prior to the said injuries, the Lakers were the fourth best team in the Western Conference and the seventh best defensive team in the league. They are currently out of the playoff picture in the West, and their defense has gone down to the fourth worst in the NBA.
Last week, the Lakers suffered a 42-point beat down at the hands of the Indiana Pacers, a team that played without their best player, Victor Oladipo. They were able to beat the Boston Celtics afterward but saw themselves struggle against the Sixers, who torched them from beyond the arc in the third quarter.
The Lakers still have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs, but their window of opportunity is getting smaller and smaller.
They will have at least two more months to figure things out.
But it might be a little too late for them when they do.
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