Kary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers ranked seventh in the league in three-point field goals made, attempted, and three-point field goal percentage. While the team is centered around LeBron James and Anthony Davis attacking the rim, a lack of outside shooting limits the offense’s effectiveness in a league increasingly dominated by three-pointers.
This is also the reason why the Lakers performed well in three-point shooting in the preseason. So far, in two games, the Lakers have taken 93 three-point attempts and shot 37.6% from the field. That percentage ranked seventh in the league last year, but the trade volume was also notable and a focus for the Lakers overall.
Davis also admitted after the preseason that the Lakers beat the Nets, taking 55 shots from beyond the arc.The star big man believes the team’s shooting is in rhythm, but they just want to feel confident in their overall shooting, via Spectrum Sports Network:
“We talked about taking more three-pointers. Obviously, that’s also a big focus of the way the league is changing, just a lot of three-pointers. But it’s all in a rhythm, you know, swing, swing, or guys in the pick-and-roll. Down play, or guys shooting in certain moves, that kind of thing. “We just want to be confident in our shot and let it fly. “
LeBron also pointed out that the Lakers simply have more capable outside shooters on their overall roster, and if the team is going to play a certain way, they want to make them pay:
“We’re shooting better this year. We had a lot of guys last year who shot really well from beyond the arc. Taurean (Prince), Gabe (Vincent) and Rui obviously all finished the year with great performances. D -Lo shoots, AR shoots, me and AD are also involved. Obviously, pressure them first and then continue to get to the free throw line, and that starts with me and AD. But when the team is in our pick-and-roll or the team We have enough shooting ability when they don’t respect us from the outside and we believe we can go up there and knock them down with high shots with confidence.
“But it’s still a work in progress, it’s just a game. I thought the way Brooklyn played tonight pushed us to take more shots. They went through a lot of our pick-and-rolls, went through a lot of our containment and stuff like that. thing, so coach said if teams are going to hit us like this, we’re going to go up and knock them down, and that’s the thing we’ve been working on. But we knew throughout the game, if there were four, five, six times You’re shooting a jump shot and you’re not making it, we’ve got to try to put some pressure on the rim and we know we can do that brilliantly. We understand that.”
There’s no question that the Lakers’ strength remains attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line with LeBron, Davis and Austin Reeves. But better 3-point shooting will only open the way for those drives and make the Lakers’ offense essentially unstoppable. They can’t fall in love with the perimeter, but the Lakers are certainly more capable of beating teams from deep this year.
Lakers’ Jared Vanderbilt, Cam Reddish considered everyday players
The Lakers got their first preseason win without two players important to the rotation. Jarred Vanderbilt is out with a sore heel and Cam Reddish is out with an ankle issue, but both are considered day-to-day.
Head coach Darvin Ham provided an update on both incidents, saying only that the team was taking precautions so early in the year, but neither was considered a serious injury.
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