Marcus Smart on Lakers' recent commitment to playing quality defense
After struggling mightily on the defensive end for much of this season, the Lakers are suddenly doing a good job of containing opponents.
In just a few weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers have gone from struggling to win roughly half of their games to becoming one of the NBA's hottest teams. After defeating the Houston Rockets in back-to-back road games on Monday and Wednesday, they have a seven-game winning streak and have won 10 of their last 11 games. They're firmly in third place in the Western Conference with a 44-25 record and are 1.
5 games ahead of the fourth-place Minnesota Timberwolves. All of a sudden, their rotation players seem to know their roles and have bought into those roles, and it has resulted in the Lakers seemingly becoming the best version of themselves. One big factor in this turnaround has been L.
A. 's improved defense. Prior to the All-Star break, it was 23rd in defensive rating, but during this 11-game spurt, it has ranked seventh in that category.
Veteran guard Marcus Smart has been instrumental in that turnaround, and he talked about the team's improved commitment to the defensive end. "We're way up with the commitment part of that. We've exceeded what we were to start the season exponentially.