It was a comfortable win for the Lakers overall, but the night was not without its problems...
Tuesday night's 122-97 victory against the Los Angeles Clippers was a strong one for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, the night was not completely free of troubles.
The Lakers were catapulted to the win by a strong shooting night from beyond the arc. Los Angeles ranks in the bottom five when it comes to 3-point shots made per game (12.1) during the 2024-25 NBA season. They had no problem eclipsing their usual output.
The Lakers made 18 triples on the night, while shooting 48 percent from distance. It helped contribute to a red-hot offense that shot 55 percent from the field overall.
All this being said, the lineup combinations that led them to this commanding victory did not include the starting unit. While Luka Doncic is sure to shake that unit up upon arrival to on-court action, there is still reason to dive into some of the trends seen from this game.
Temporary starting unit proves to be underwhelming
The starters that Lakers head coach JJ Redick rolled out for this game included LeBron James, Dorian Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura, Jaxson Hayes, and Austin Reaves. That lineup spent the second-most minutes on the court together of any combination for Los Angeles, finishing the game as a negative.
Naturally, it is important to highlight the fact that this is a one-game sample size being discussed. Despite that, the starting unit posted a net rating of -7.9 on the evening. The worrisome part about that would be the 126.7 defensive rating which the group registered together.
The Lakers' most effective unit proved to involve mixing in a couple of bench pieces. When factoring in a minimum of five minutes played together on the court, the best lineup for Los Angeles featured James, Finney-Smith, and Hachimura being joined by Shake Milton and Dalton Knecht.
That group finished the game with a net rating of 46.7, posting an offensive rating of 126.7 and defensive rating of 80.0 during the eight minutes they shared on the court. Bearing in mind the sample size of one game, that lineup actually shared the largest amount of time together on the court versus the Clippers.
The immediate thing that will be noticeable is the lack of center on the court in that combination. The Lakers managed to lean well into the spacing they could bring with that group and make up for the lack of size.
Of the lineups that played a minimum of five minutes together and featured Hayes, one combination did prove to be a positive in terms of net rating. The Lakers starting center also finished the night as a +14 in the box plus/minus, so it is unfair to be too critical of Hayes as the stop gap solution when big man minutes are needed.
However, there is some food for thought that Redick can consider when it comes to finding the right situations to go away from using a traditional big man and lean more into playing 'positionless' basketball.
