The Lakers have yet to lose a close game
10-0. It’s a perfect balance sheet Lakers in close matches, i.e. those in which the difference was less than five points at any time, in the last five minutes of the match.
Since the beginning of the season, it is also the only team that has always emerged victorious from these hanging “money times”. THE Thunder is thus at 9-2 in the field, and Spurs at 12-3 while on the other side of the ranking, the Clippers are the worst team in the clutch with only 2 wins in 12 close encounters.
“It’s really great to be 10-0 in close games and 12-3 on the road because it’s not easy” Luka Dončić smiles at that at the press conference.
Is the team that much more focused and engaged when it really counts, 22nd overall in defense (117.1 points per 100 possessions) but second-most efficient (93.6) in the clutch, even if the number of minutes (24 vs. 1,248) makes the comparison difficult?
In search of consistency
“It would definitely be better if we were more consistent, but it’s not bad to be the second best defense in the clutch. Even if, like I said, we still have a lot to improve.” replies the Slovenian.
Furthermore, JJ Redick has lectured Luka Doncic and LeBron James about their defense in recent days, asking them to lead by example. In addition, despite his massive triple-doubleThe Los Angeles coach didn’t hesitate to say that he didn’t like his leader’s defense at all during several paragraphs…
“There are times when he’s great, but there are times when he’s not as engaged as he should be and doesn’t follow our instructions defensively … but he certainly played well to lead us to the win. He and LeBron still had a combined 28 assists (24, in reality) against three turnovers.” concludes the coach.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | That | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Ft | Pts |
| Luka Dončić | 20 | 37:24 | 46.3 | 32.4 | 81.1 | 0.9 | 7.9 | 8.8 | 9.1 | 4.2 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 35.2 |
| Austin Reaves | 21 | 36:54 | 50.3 | 36.9 | 87.5 | 0.8 | 4.8 | 5.6 | 6.7 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 27.8 |
| LeBron James | 10 | 33:42 | 46.9 | 26.1 | 69.1 | 0.8 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 7.5 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 18.6 |
| Deandre Ayton | 23 | 29:23 | 71.0 | 0 | 63.2 | 2.9 | 6.0 | 9.0 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 15.3 |
| Rui Hachimura | 25 | 10:55 p.m | 53.5 | 45.6 | 75.0 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 13.3 |
| Marcus Smart | 17 | 27:14 | 43.1 | 33.0 | 91.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 10.6 |
| Jake Laravia | 26 | 24:32 | 45.5 | 32.1 | 71.4 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 8.5 |
| Nick Smith Jr | 10 | 13:54 | 44.8 | 45.2 | 66.7 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 7.0 |
| Jackson Hayes | 23 | 17:05 | 76.7 | 100.0 | 63.2 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 4.1 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 6.0 |
| Dalton Knecht | 21 | 14:34 | 46.6 | 35.6 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 6.0 |
| Gabe Vincent | 14 | 21:30 | 35.0 | 36.2 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.5 | 4.7 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt | 17 | 17:39 | 42.9 | 31.6 | 85.7 | 1.8 | 3.9 | 5.6 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 4.6 |
| Maki glue | 11 | 12:44 | 41.2 | 33.3 | 75.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| Bronnie James | 14 | 8:56 | 32.3 | 28.6 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| Drew Timme | 2 | 4:00 am | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Adou Thiero | 10 | 5:30 | 42.9 | 0 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Christian Koloko | 2 | 3:00 am | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Chris Manon | 2 | 3:30 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
2025-12-19 12:54:00
