Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton has identified his team's problem and the obvious solution to it.
Speaking after their 104-108 loss to the Orlando Magic, Walton pointed out turnovers and missed free throws as the main culprits. For the 38-year-old, the solution to it is simple: knock the free throws down and take care of the rock. Per Dan Duangdao of Lakers Nation:
“Turnovers and missed free throws, we’re killing ourselves,” Walton added. “We play hard enough and we play well enough, we didn’t tonight for the majority of the game, but this is a couple games in a row now. You lose a close game, you miss 11 free throws, those are free points. We’ve got to step up and knock those down.
“We’ve got to get back to valuing the basketball.”
In the loss, the Lakers turned the ball over 18 times. They were also 20-of-31 from the free throw line for 64.5 percent. And it's not just in the recent game that Walton spotted the team's weak points. Through 19 games, the Lakers are the sixth-worst team in free-throw shooting at 71.7 percent and fifth-worst in turnovers at 15.9 per contest.
The good thing is that there's still a whole lot of games left to play. Despite their shortcomings in certain aspects of the game, the Lakers have managed to win seven of their last 10 games. It certainly helps that Walton identified the team's problems this early.
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