As the Lakers rolled through the final third of the NBA season, their identity complete with Rui Hachimura in the starting lineup and their offense humming, a trend quietly developed.
The Lakers, during those 32 games with Hachimura as starter, had the NBA’s second-best offense in the first half, allowing 121.8 points per 100 possessions.
In the second half of that match? The rating fell to 114.9 points per 100 possessions – sixth place.
Still good, but not as good as the first half.
The differences are even greater due to two games in the play-offs.
In the first half of Games 1 and 2, the Lakers were right in terms of their regular-season efficiency: 121.4 points per 100 possessions. But after Denver made its adjustments in the second half of the year, the numbers have dropped.
Read more: Lakers lose to Nuggets in Game 2 heartbreaker on Jamal Murray buzzer-beater
In the 48 minutes in the second half of this series, the Lakers scored just 92.2 points per 100 possessions, while Denver’s offense was the most efficient in the postseason, scoring 129.5 per 100 possessions.
It’s the difference between the Lakers having a series lead and the 2-0 hole they face in Game 3 on Thursday.
Coach Darvin Ham said the team’s film session Wednesday illuminated the side of the court where the Lakers were struggling — on offense — when he saw his team inexplicably hit the brakes.
“We talk about maintaining our pace. And not just running up and down quickly and throwing up quick shots,” Ham said. “It’s just doing things with a sense of urgency, whether it’s full-court and being disciplined with our running habits or half-court, creating an advantage through our separation, getting into a pick-and-roll situation and actually get a hit. And whoever handles the ball really puts pressure on the paint to score or make the pass.”
The Nuggets, who ranked eighth in defense during the regular season, flipped their coverages in the second half of Monday’s Game 2, moving Nikola Jokic from Anthony Davis and starting Aaron Gordon on him. Davis scored just two points after the switch – one scored the basket in the final 22 minutes of action.
Ham said it’s a fine line between making major in-game adjustments and sticking to the game plan that helped so much in those first halves.
“You have to be careful. You have to understand why you failed at something,” Ham said. “It’s not just, ‘We failed, let’s scrap the whole plan and go this way.’ No. You have to understand why things went the way they did.
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“That’s the beauty of film. Once you calm down and get the emotions out of it, emotions come out after the game and you can make an intelligent decision about whether to stay the course or change things completely .It’s never completely one or the other.” otherwise. It’s a bit of both.”
After the game, Davis said there were times Monday where the Lakers “have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor.”
Although Davis did not speak to the media after practice on Wednesday, Ham said he believed those comments came out of frustration.
“I think sometimes when the game doesn’t go the way you think it should, frustration sets in a little bit. But I don’t think so [from] that we are not organized,” Ham said. “I think I have incredibly talented coaches throughout my staff. We pride ourselves, whether it’s a training session, a shoot-around, a film session, a game or whatever, we pride ourselves on being very efficient and organized.
“I just put that down to being frustrated. It’s an emotional game, the way it ended and all that. But I agree to disagree.”
LeBron James, who finished Game 2 well offensively, said the Lakers have worked out more than just a Plan A, that in-game adjustments need to be planned in advance.
“I mean, it’s all part of the game. You have to be able to make adjustments on the fly, but you also have to have a game plan in place,” James said. “You don’t go into war without having a plan and saying, ‘Oh, we’re going to make adjustments right away.’ And now everyone is being ambushed.”
The Lakers have a plan, James said.
“We know that some things can be improved,” he says. “But you… there’s only so much we can talk about. We need to get out there and talk about it too.”
The good news, the Lakers said, is that they feel like they made a lot of correctable mistakes in their first two losses to the Nuggets.
“Any time you lose it’s hard, but in the end they kept the service on their home floor and we have to try to do the same,” Ham said. “And the film session was very revealing as to which side of the ball we were struggling with. We were great defensively. Offensively, there were a lot of shots we wanted back. We missed a lot of scoreless layups. But the way we defended, we really defended at a high level. We just have to continue that.”
The message shared during Wednesday’s media session was one of preparedness: the Lakers are ready for the challenges ahead.
“It’s all about sustainability,” James said. “It doesn’t matter what you can do in the first 47½ minutes. You have to close the game, which we didn’t do. We have to do that better. But some of the things we’ve done in the first few games we’re really excited and happy about. But we must do better to close it.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
