Impressive defensive showing gives Lakers banner win over Thunder

The old adage that defense wins games never rang more true than on Monday night in the Lakers' win over the Thunder

LOS ANGELES - You’ve heard all the cliches about defense before, but cliches are cliches for a reason. If a team can’t score on you, it gives you an advantage and makes winning easier.

It was a key component in the Lakers’ 2020 title run as Los Angeles had size and took on a host of offense-powered teams on the way to a title. They faced the Damian Lillard-led Trail Blazers, James Harden and Russell Westbrook’s Rockets, Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets and the Jimmy Butler Miami Heat. Thanks to their defensive prowess and LeBron James and Anthony Davis being the best version of themselves, the Lakers hung banner No. 17.

Four years later, the pursuit of No. 18 continues. Many things have changed since then, but one thing remains the same: defense wins games.

It’s one of the weaknesses this year’s team has had all season. The Lakers currently have a defensive rating of 115.0, ranking 17th in the league, a far cry from the 106.3 rating they had in their title season.

So, as the Lakers entered Crypto.com Arena on Monday, desperately needing a win like a fish needs water, defense was the primary focus. How could they slow down MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? How were they going to contain Chet Holmgren? Did the Lakers even have enough firepower to keep up with the No. 1 seed in the West?

The early results were brutal.

Oklahoma City jumped out to a 20-8 run, but after that opening flurry, the Lakers settled down and put on a defensive masterclass.

For the remaining five minutes of the first, the Thunder only scored five points. The Lakers clogged the paint and forced OKC into contested jumpers and they went ice-cold for the rest of the half, shooting 30.6% overall in the opening two periods.

“I told them at halftime, it was like the best defensive half I’ve seen all season,” head coach Darvin Ham said after the game. “Just the way we fought to keep the ball in front of us, our shifts in activity behind the initial defender, help at the rim, rebounding the ball well. The turnovers kind of bit us early and often so we were able to still get some good looks, play downhill, guys were making shots. Our defense, kudos to our guys. They stepped up and defended really, really well.”

They stonewalled Holmgren, allowing him to score only 15 points on 14 shot attempts, and bullied him on the other end of the floor.

It was an all-hands-on-deck approach to defending SGA, but Austin Reaves took responsibility for large portions of the game and clamped him down through the first three quarters, forcing him to go 5-14 from the field.

A good defense leads to a good offense and with OKC struggling to score, the Lakers continued to pile on. Anthony Davis hammered the paint and scored 15 of his 24 in the third frame and, with a 17-point advantage, he was able to sit out the rest of the way while the Lakers comfortably won the game.

The defensive performance was impressive, but the ability to maintain that focus for all 48 minutes is something this team hasn’t done all season. They did it on Monday against the best in the West.

There was no fake comeback, no garbage time run and after D’Angelo Russell went on one of his vintage heaters, converting three 3-pointers in a row, the Lakers were able to empty out their bench and enjoy an easy win against a good opponent.

When asked after the game if this was the best defense he’d seen from his squad in 2024, Darvin Ham was adamant in his response.

“Absolutely,” Ham said. “We talked about it a lot in shootaround this morning. We watched our film, our pregame…and that was the key. Individual pride, contain the ball, defend without fouling and finish possessions with a defensive rebound. And so our guys did just that. Showing our hands, just being solid. No gambles. We were able to come up with steals because our hands were active. We forced them into some tough situations. Our shifts were on time, we were doing our work early, so we shifted in the lane and they threw a couple passes right to us and we were able to push the ball toward the other end.

“Defensively, we have to just continue to build off this. Just what we did tonight, let’s continue to build once we get a chance to get back at it on Wednesday.”

If they can give this kind of defensive performance the rest of the way, no one will want to play in Los Angeles this postseason or the rest of the regular season for that matter, but consistency is key.

The Lakers will have another chance to demonstrate this is the start of a trend and not just a random flash in the pan on Wednesday when they play the Sacramento Kings in a matchup that will have huge standings implications.

And if they start to string together defensive performances akin to Monday’s, a path to a potential 18th banner starts to look, perhaps, a little more clear.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.