Gabe Vincent Believes Lakers' Trust & Focus On Defense Have Improved

12/20/2024 04:03 PM

The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t have the most efficient offensive night against the Sacramento Kings, but they made up for it by crashing the offensive glass and giving another excellent effort on defense. They also got a big contribution from Gabe Vincent off the bench, who finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists in the 13-point win.

Many will focus on Vincent’s scoring as he knocked down 4-of-5 from 3-point range, but his rebounding, two of which came on the offensive end, was just as important. The Lakers grabbed 14 offensive rebounds as a team and Vincent spoke on that being something the Lakers emphasized going into the game, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:

“I think we just trying to get extra possessions and I think just like we’ve been emphasizing the point of that. And we’ve seen time and time again where when we have done it well, we put ourselves in positions to win. It was something that was useful tonight, especially to get a little run going or keep them from getting a run going. Sometimes an offensive rebound can take the air out of somebody."

As Vincent noted, offensive rebounds can be very deflating to the opposition, especially if they’re in the midst of a run and trying to get back in the game. What looks like another stop then turns into a basket and that run is squashed.

The defensive effort for the Lakers as a whole was also promising and Vincent felt the Lakers started off strong on that end of the floor which they were able to carry on throughout the rest of the game:

“I think it puts a lot of pressure on the opposing team, especially if you’re able to execute offensively and they’re able to come down and they’re having a tough time getting into the paint… You put a lot of pressure on them getting three stops in a row and converting three times. So now you’ve snuck yourselves into a six-point, nine-point run. So we started off the game hot with that, we started off the game hot defensively, we were executing and we tried to carry that through."

The Lakers held the Kings, a top-10 offense, 16 points below their season average, which comes after holding the NBA’s top scoring team, the Memphis Grizzlies, 10 points below theirs. In terms of what is working, Vincent believes the Lakers are more focused and have more trust on the defensive end:

“I just think our overall attention to detail and focus. I think we’ve been filling gaps better, I think we’ve been competing harder on ball, covering for one another more. Our trust has picked up on that side of the ball so I think it’s just been an overall uptick in our effort on that side.”

Much has been made of the Lakers not having the personnel to be a really good defense, but these last two games are showing that when locked in, they can make things very difficult on even the best offenses. The efforts of Vincent, Max Christie and, of course, Anthony Davis go a long way towards that.

Anthony Davis believes Lakers are playing ‘desperate’ on defense

Anthony Davis was very much in line with Gabe Vincent in terms of what is sparking the Lakers’ improvement on defense as well.

The big man noted that it isn’t a matter of defensive schemes, but simply the Lakers playing harder, communicating and covering for each other on that end of the floor. Davis added that the Lakers are playing ‘desperate’ and that the recent practice time has helped them clean up some things.

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