The Lakers went out and lost to the Charlotte Bobcats by 20 points (109-89) last night, and everyone seems to be looking at the Lakers’ three point shooting as the problem. Many people were talking about how Charlotte turned the Lakers into a three point shooting team, but that is simply not the case. Sure, the Lakers took a few more threes than they do over the course of the season, 24% of the Lakers shots last night were threes when they have shot 22.3% threes over the course of the season, but the Lakers weren’t settling:
As the chart illustrates, the Lakers were getting to the rim more than usual last night, as 40% of their total shots were at the rim, compared to 28.5% over the course of the entire season. The problem with the Lakers’ offense is that they were missing at the rim more than usual. Los Angeles is 6th in the NBA, shooting 66.9% on shots located at the rim. Against the Bobcats, that number dropped all the way to 50%, which would be worst in the league by far (the Bucks are worst in the league shooting 57% at the rim).
Forcing offenses into poor shooting at the rim seems to be the Bobcats’ identity on the defensive end. They are currently 4th in the NBA, holding teams to just 60.5% shooting at the rim. To me, the key is the length of the Bobcats frontcourt:
Here, Andrew Bynum gets a very nice repost with terrific position. However, Kwame Brown’s length bothers Bynum’s move. Not only that, but Brown keeping his hands up also bothers Ron Artest’s putback attempt.
In this clip, Ron Artest tries his luck in the post. However, he too has a long defender on him, Gerald Wallace. Again, the Lakers get the ball to their post man in terrific position, but Wallace gets his hands up and and forces Artest to shoot over them.
It wasn’t just in the post, but the Bobcats’ length in the frontcourt also bothered the Lakers on penetration. Here, Lamar Odom attacks the rim and gets by his man. However, Kwame Brown slides over, gets in front of the rim, and puts his hands up. This forces Odom to try and sidestep Brown and still get a shot over his extended arms, but he is unable to do so, missing the lay-up.
And finally here, Shannon Brown makes a great initial move and starts to drive baseline. Even though he beats his man, Brown still has to try and finish at the rim with two long defenders (Brown and Wallace) coming over and helping. Shannon Brown is forced to try and go underneath the rim for the reverse lay-up, but he misses.
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One thing to take away from all of these clips is that the Bobcats aren’t fouling here. You don’t see the Bobcats’ bigs leaving their feet, and when they do, they aren’t swinging their arms widely going for the block, they are simply looking to bother the shot. This is another season-long trend for the Bobcats, as they are 8th in the NBA with an opponent free throw rate 28.9.
Not only do the Bobcats have length in the frontcourt, but they go about using it smartly. If they are able to give the big Lakers’ frontcourt problems, you can see why they give other teams problems as well.
