New Lakers Starting Lineup Struggles in Debut Against Clippers<\/p>\n
Although the Lakers secured a comfortable 122-97 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night, there were still some issues to address.<\/p>\n
The Lakers dominated the game thanks to a strong performance from beyond the arc. Despite ranking among the bottom five teams in 3-point shooting (12.1 made per game) for the 2024-25 NBA season, they managed to surpass their usual performance.<\/p>\n
On this night, Los Angeles made 18 3-pointers, shooting 48 percent from long range, contributing to a high-scoring offense that shot 55 percent overall from the field.<\/p>\n
However, the starting lineup was not a major factor in this win. Though Luka Doncic\u2019s eventual arrival will likely shake up the unit, it\u2019s still worth noting the struggles of the starters in this game.<\/p>\n
Underwhelming Performance from the Temporary Starting Unit<\/p>\n
Coach JJ Redick deployed a starting lineup of LeBron James, Dorian Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura, Jaxson Hayes, and Austin Reaves. This group played the second-most minutes together but ended the game with a negative performance.<\/p>\n
Although it\u2019s just one game, the starters posted a net rating of -7.9, with a concerning 126.7 defensive rating. This indicates potential issues with this unit that need attention moving forward.<\/p>\n
The Lakers\u2019 most successful combination involved mixing in some bench players. When considering lineups with at least five minutes together, the most effective group included James, Finney-Smith, and Hachimura alongside Shake Milton and Dalton Knecht.<\/p>\n
This unit recorded a net rating of 46.7, with an impressive offensive rating of 126.7 and a defensive rating of 80.0 over eight minutes together. This was the longest the Lakers\u2019 most efficient lineup stayed on the court during the game.<\/p>\n
A noticeable aspect of this group was the absence of a traditional center, as the Lakers used spacing effectively to compensate for the lack of size.<\/p>\n
Among the lineups that included Hayes and played a minimum of five minutes, one combination proved to be positive in terms of net rating. Hayes also finished the game with a +14 in box plus\/minus, which makes it unfair to overly criticize his role.<\/p>\n
However, Redick may want to consider using less traditional lineups and leaning more into a “positionless” style of play, especially when a big man isn\u2019t essential to the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Lakers Starting Lineup Struggles in Debut Against Clippers Although the Lakers secured a comfortable 122-97 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night, there were still some issues to address. The Lakers dominated the game thanks to a strong performance from beyond the arc. Despite ranking among the bottom five teams in 3-point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2586,246],"tags":[256],"class_list":["post-24033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-la-lakers"],"yoast_head":"\n