Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant #24 in the 4th. The Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 120-109 in a regular season NBA game at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. 11/3/2015 (photo by John McCoy/Los Angeles News Group)
Only a little more than a year ago, Byron Scott vowed at his introductory press conference that he would make revamping the Lakers’ defense his top priority. Less than a week ago, Scott questioned his players’ effort and their toughness as they labored through another listless defensive performance. And then after the Lakers’ 120-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday at Staples Center, Scott suddenly pleaded for some more patience.
“We have to continue to harp on it, work on it and guys have to get better at it,” Scott said. “We have to keep working and trusting each other. All our players have to do better. All of us coaches, myself, have to do better.”
The Lakers (0-4) have shown few signs of getting better.
They have opened the season with four losses for the second consecutive year under Scott for mostly the same reason. They rank last out of 30 NBA teams in points allowed (116.8), are tied for 28th in defensive field-goal percentage (48.6%) and are 26th in fast-break points allowed (17.2). Last year, the Lakers ranked 29th in points allowed (105.3) and defensive field-goal percentage (46.6%) as well as 26th in fast-break points allowed (15.1).
Yet, the usually ultra-competitive Kobe Bryant stood by his locker remaining calm about an alarming trend.
“Defense and recognizing formations and stuff like that, it’s honesty stuff that comes with experience in recognizing what the sets are and what we’re trying to run and where to push it,” Bryant said. “You have to go through it and see where situations unfold. Then, when situations come up again, recognize where the actions are.”
Bryant then narrowed in on Denver forward Kenneth Faried, who posted 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting and 15 rebounds. He provided the sort of energy Scott likened to former Lakers teammates A.C. Green and Kurt Rambis.
“It’s just basic stuff. They ran a top screen and roll, for example, and we allowed the big to roll on the single side,” Bryant said. “[It’s lack of] experience. You can see the action, you make the big roll to the crowded side, so now Faried is rolling to a congested area. And those are all just little details. That’s not something you recognize before. You see the action taking place, and then you make the adjustments right then and there. That’s just experience.”
The Lakers have very little experience. They have rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell, second-year forward Julius Randle and second-year guard Jordan Clarkson. The Lakers have three new free agent veterans in guard Lou Williams, forward Brandon Bass and center Roy Hibbert. Yet, some on the Lakers did not like chalking their latest setback for that reason.
“At some point, we can’t just use our youth and inexperience as an excuse,” Williams said. “We just have to go out there and compete and try to win games.”
It’s hard to gauge whether that revealed any fundamental disagreement on how the Lakers fix their defense. Or maybe the Lakers just did not synergize their post-game cliches.
Regardless, Bryant and Scott argued that the team’s latest defensive lapse that entailed allowing 54 points in the paint did not point to a lack of effort. Scott added the team has shown “flashes of doing things the right way” and reported having “great practices” where he saw his players defend to his liking. But Russell hardly made much of the contention that the Lakers for unexplained reasons cannot translate productive practices into productive games.
“It’s easy to guard each other in practice because you guard each other every day and know each other’s strengths,” Russell said. “Guys have been around this league for a while, and we have new guys on the team. It’s about team defense. You might have three guys playing great team defense, but the other two are lost out there.”
That has played out in different ways.
On one hand, the Lakers entered Tuesday’s game against Denver ranking fourth in the NBA in total blocks per game (7.3). Hibbert also ranked fifth overall with three blocks per game. He added two against Sacramento.
“Roy is great,” Bryant said. “He’s intense all the time. I think he’s been phenomenal for the team.”
Yet, Hibbert only played 17 minutes and 28 seconds. But he sat out the entire second quarter in favor of a small-ball lineup with Brandon Bass at center and Ryan Kelly at power forward. Though the Nuggets only shot 35.7 percent during that time, they still posted 30 points. Scott eventually gave the nod to Tarik Black, who posted seven points on 3-of-5 shooting and eight rebounds. Metta World Peace has not played in any of the Lakers’ four games, but that could change soon.
“I’m trying to find that combination that works,” Scott said.
It also hasn’t helped that the Lakers shot only 41.4 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from 3-point range, giving the Nuggets plenty of opportunities for convert on 18 fast-break points. After Bryant airballed a 3-pointer in one sequence, he did not get back on defense as Faried marched for an open dunk.
“Guys play one on one defense well. But on team defense, guys have to be on a string,” Russell said. “Once we value how important it is getting a stop, we’ll be all right.”
But Bryant suggested it had little to do with gaffes, such as his failure to get back on defense on one possession.
“It’s tactics,” Bryant said. “You can be as mad as you want. But if you’re not executing the tactics and the basics of it, it doesn’t work. The boxer can go into the ring as mad as he wants. If he’s not sound, he’s already knocked out. We have to look at the basics.”
When informed of Bryant’s take, Russell changed his tune.
“That sounds right,” Russell said.
But with the Lakers hardly appearing to agree on how to fix their defense, it seems less than promising that they can actually do so.
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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com