Playoff Challenges for the Lakers
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Lakers have clearly struggled with their 3-point shooting since Luka Doncic was ruled out due to a torn left hamstring. It’s becoming pretty obvious; they’ll need to change this trend if they want to have a shot at beating the Thunder in their second-round playoff matchup, especially without waiting for Doncic’s recovery.
Even prior to the injuries to Doncic and Austin Reaves, who both went down in a game on April 2, the Lakers were not a high-volume 3-point shooting team. In fact, up until that date, only 36% of their shots were taken from beyond the arc, placing them 22nd in the league.
Doncic had somehow managed to lift their 3-point shooting threat. His ability to shoot from the perimeter and create plays made the team more dangerous overall.
When Doncic was on the court, the Lakers’ 3-point shooting frequency was notably better—5.7% higher than when he sat on the bench. This stat was indeed the best on the team.
However, everything shifted after the injuries. During the last five games of the regular season, without Doncic and Reaves, the Lakers’ 3-point shooting percentage dipped to 30%, putting them 28th in the NBA.
In the initial seven games of the playoffs, they’re still not doing any better, hitting just 30% from beyond the arc—the lowest among playoff teams. Even with Reaves making a comeback in the fifth game of the first round, their percentage slightly improved to 31.3% in the next three games, ranking them 13th out of 14 playoff teams.
Throughout the regular season, the Lakers were among the most efficient scoring teams, largely due to their dominance in free-throw shooting and scoring in the paint, and, of course, Doncic played a big part in that. But in the playoffs, their effective shooting percentage stands at 56.6%, which, while decent, puts them fifth among playoff teams—much lower than their regular-season mark of 60.9%.
Moving forward, the Lakers really need to boost their 2-point shooting. However, generating more free throws could be challenging against a fully healthy Thunder team, which boasts the best defense in the league, characterized by a low foul rate.
The Thunder excel at limiting shots at the rim and are solid at defending once the ball is inside. Most of the shots they allow tend to be from mid-range or beyond the 3-point line.
“They give up the most spray 3s in the NBA,” noted coach JJ Reddick before the series began. He hinted that the Lakers need to be ready to shoot if given the opportunity.
With the Thunder mainly using drop coverage against the Lakers, it’s vital for Los Angeles to capitalize on opportunities to drive to the basket. In Game 1, they only managed to make eight pull-up 3s.
As the series progresses, if the Thunder continues focusing on paint protection, Reaves and Luke Kennard should ideally be positioned to take those critical pull-up 3s.
The Lakers don’t plan to become a big 3-point shooting team without Doncic, but they must adapt and increase their attempts from deep if they want to remain competitive against the Thunder in this series.
