The Los Angeles Lakers will return to action on Friday as they go up against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena in the latest chapter of their inter-city rivalry.

The Lakers are coming off a win over the Dallas Mavericks before the midseason break, snapping a two-game skid. They are 6-4 over their last 10 games.

For coach JJ Redick, their in-game adjustments have worked well, particularly switching to zone defense at times. He said they will continue to employ it when necessary.

“It starts with setting our defense and just eating up some clock. We looked at it this morning and did a bunch of stuff with our analytics group. It's not like teams are vastly underperforming from the midrange or from three. I think some of the underperformance from three has to do with just breaking up a little bit of the flow of the game, if that's what you mean by throwing it for a loop,” said Redick in a video posted by California Post's Khobi Price.

The second-year coach has often rhapsodized about the willingness to defend, either one-on-one or as a unit. While zone defense is more of a strategic change-up than a primary scheme in the NBA, it could be effective with the right personnel.

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The Lakers have active defenders in Marcus Smart, Jarred Vanderbilt, Austin Reaves, Jaxson Hayes, and Maxi Kleber. Zone defense could also limit opponents from targeting Luka Doncic.

Redick, however, admitted that they cannot have a one-track mind, even if zone defense has been effective.

“I think with this group, it's not gonna be one thing. We have to continue to be adaptable and search for the right answers in the middle of the game,” noted Redick.

The Lakers are in the bottom half of defensive rankings, allowing 116.0 points per game.