New Orleans Pelicans: One thing to learn from each Conference Finalist

New Orleans Pelicans: One thing to learn from the Los Angeles Lakers

Defense wins titles

The Los Angeles Lakers are baffling.

They have two of the top five players in the league in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but other than that, they stink.

They don’t have a single other player who is consistent offensively. Sure, Danny Green and KCP can hit the occasional wide-open corner three-pointer, and Rajon Rondo can occasionally carry them in short bursts, but this has to be the worst collection of offensive role players to ever potentially win a title.

The Lakers were 11th in the NBA in scoring this season, 23rd in 3-point shots made and 21st in 3-point percentage. In today’s pace and space game that is all about the 3-point shot, here are the Lakers about to win a title with a team that can’t shoot.

So how are they doing it?

The Lakers were the 3rd best defense in the NBA in the regular season with a defensive rating of 106.1. They were 5th overall in steals, 1st in blocked shots, 5th in opponents second-chance points allowed and top ten in points in the paint allowed.

The New Orleans Pelicans were poor in all of those categories, and even though they had one of the most dynamic offenses in the league, it doesn’t matter when you can’t get stops.

The Lakers rely heavily on their defense, which allows them to control the pace and keep the game in the half-court, where they are very good.

You don’t have to make a million 3-point shots to be good and even if you do, it won’t make a difference if you can’t defend.

Even in today’s fast-paced game, defense wins titles and the Lakers are close to winning one on the shoulders of their D.

The New Orleans Pelicans still have a lot of work to do if they want to be one of these conference finalists soon, but if they draft better, embrace small ball, find some playmakers and get better on defense, they could get there.