The Los Angeles Lakers have been forced to alter several aspects of their game plan in the absence of Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
Now that no trades shook up the roster, perhaps the biggest adjustment the shorthanded Lakers need to get accustomed to is a slimmer margin of error.
Even before James went down, the Lakers had a bad habit of turning the ball over. The Lakers can generate wondrous ball movement, but they have a tendency to overpass, resulting in unnecessary swings and misguided attempts to feed the ball into traffic on sneaky cuts.
Entering Thursday, the Lakers ranked 25th in the NBA in turnovers per game (14.9) and 23rd in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.65). In their 109-101 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday — their fourth defeat in a row — they were unable to overcome 22 turnovers, which Philly converted into 24 points, including a handful of backbreaking Danny Green 3-pointers.
“I think a lot of those was trying to make the right play, fit it into small spaces,” Montrezl Harrell said after the game, noted that the 76ers’ size, active hands, and stingy defense led to strips and mistakes. ”I think we was trying to make the right play instead of just letting things develop.”
With James and/or Davis on the court, everybody else slides into their natural roles and the Lakers can compensate for carelessness. After all, it emanates from a place of unselfishness.
“We're gonna make mistakes, but we gotta do it with great effort,” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said.
Without their two fulcrums and buckets going at a premium, though, the Lakers simply can't afford to cough up that many possessions — even when they force 21 turnovers resulting in 22 points, as they did vs. the Sixers.
“Yes, the margin of error is more slim” without AD and LeBron, Frank Vogel reiterated after the game, stating the obvious.
Dennis Schröder, whom Vogel acknowledged will get the “lion's share” of offensive touches for the time being, blamed himself for the team's shortcomings in the third.
“Third quarter, I think I gotta do a better job organizing the game. I think I had one turnover, two turnovers. They hit a 3 off it. I gotta do better there.”
Schröder posted 20 points (6-of-14 shooting) and 11 assists, but also six turnovers. Kyle Kuzma turned it over four times, while Harrell and even the sure-handed Alex Caruso committed three turnovers.
Turnovers weren't the only issue. The Lakers made mistakes on defense, too – specifically over-helping on Ben Simmons’ paint attacks and Tobias Harris touches – and remain below average from beyond the arc (9-of-26 on Thursday).
However, the Lakers essentially lost the game in a sloppy 35-17 third quarter, primarily thanks to nine turnovers.
The Lakers played more responsibly in the fourth and closed the lead to three points by the final minute. But it was too little, too late, as their closer nursed his sprained ankle across the country.
The faulty third period was emblematic of the other untenable issue plaguing the Lakers since James went down in the first half of Saturday’s matchup with the Atlanta Hawks.
“Each of the last three, four games we’ve had one really bad quarter,” Vogel assessed. “We want to prevent that and play a 48-minute night. The third quarter … credit the defense, they’re great at forcing turnovers … We made some poor decisions … just a tough stretch for us.
“I don’t think we played harder in the fourth quarter than the third. I think we played poorly in the third,” Vogel added. “We’re competing, just falling short because of a couple difficult stretches.”
The Lakers will have to clean up their act quickly, as they face the Cleveland Cavaliers on the second leg of a back-to-back on Friday, then get the depleted Orlando Magic on Sunday before a meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks followed by a seven-game road swing (counting a showdown with the Los Angeles Clippers on Easter).
“We’re a new team, we’re still learning,” Harrell said. “But we’ll keep fighting … We have faith in everything we have in that locker room.”
If L.A. can’t grab a win this weekend, a date in the play-in-tournament becomes eminently more realistic, while #LakersTwitter will plummet into unimaginable depths of hopelessness.