The Los Angeles Lakers are 12-12, far from where a team aspiring for a title should be at this point of the year.
Of course, the Lakers have dealt with several setbacks. LeBron James has appeared in just half the games this year, Talen Horton-Tucker missed the first 13 games of the season with an injury and Trevor Ariza and Kendrick Nunn have not played at all, among other issues.
This context is just a factor in the Lakers’ struggles to flow on either end of the court, and 3-point shooting has recently become an issue.
Though the Lakers are ranked 14th in the league in 3-point shooting (34.8%), the squad is 21st in attempts (33.6) and could be way better with the signings made in free agency.
The inability to hit 3s bit the Lakers in the loss to the L.A. Clippers Friday. Though the Lakers shot a relatively solid 36.4%, the Clippers drilled 45.7% from deep.
Anthony Davis, who missed both of his 3s, discussed the shooting after the game.
“We had some good looks early on, a lot of guys had some great looks. Even down the stretch, we had some good looks, and we made a couple tough ones,” Davis said. “But that’s what they’ve been trying to take away: the three. And obviously, we’re just taking what the defense gives us.”
Davis then pointed out how he, James and Horton-Tucker all struggled to hit shots from beyond the arc, which would’ve boosted L.A.’s percentages.
“But we had some good looks from 3 tonight, they just didn’t fall. LeBron usually shoots better. LeBron was 2-for-8. He’s better than that. I was 0-for-2, I’ve been struggling all year. THT was 0-for-4. Nothing we can do except keep shooting.”
Davis, however, wants the Lakers to keep finding ways to get the ball out on the perimeter and shoot 3s.
“We’ll take the looks that we got, great looks. That’s all we do. Must try to continue to take great shots, get in the paint and kick it out to the shooters and just keep shooting the ball with confidence,” Davis said. “It’ll turn from three for us when we get hot, but we just got to continue to shoot the ball with confidence and don’t get down on ourselves.”
Dwight Howard is the best 3-point shooter on the roster. He has a 71.4% clip, though, of course, it’s an extremely small sample size compared to his teammates.
Carmelo Anthony is at 42.9% on 6.1 attempts, and Wayne Ellington has risen to 39.5% on 5.1 attempts after a slow start. These are the two best volume shooters on the roster.
The Lakers will need Malik Monk (36.8%), James (33.7%), Kent Bazemore if he plays (30.2%) and Horton-Tucker (25.6%) to improve. That especially is the case for Davis, who is shooting 18.8% from deep.
That’s inexcusable for his standards, and that needs to increase if the Lakers hope to unlock the full potential of Davis playing at center.
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