EL SEGUNDO — Considering how the last few games have gone – and really the last month – it wasn’t surprising that the Lakers spent a considerable amount of Tuesday’s practice looking at film of their rebounding.
There were plenty of critiques to be shared.
“We just watched a huge section on it in our film session,” Coach Darvin Ham said after Tuesday’s practice ended. “All bad clips.”
The Lakers’ defensive rebounding, an early-season deficiency, has come back into focus recently in light of their recent struggles.
They allowed at least 14 offensive rebounds in each of their three games since the All-Star break: 15 in last Thursday’s road loss to the Golden State Warriors, 16 in the Friday home win against the San Antonio Spurs and 14 in Sunday’s road loss to the Phoenix Suns.
The Lakers’ struggles on the glass have led to opponents averaging 19.3 second-chance points since the All-Star break. They’re allowing a league-worst 13.4 offensive rebounds over the last 14 games, leading to opponents averaging 17.9 second-chance points.
“Two of the many things that we addressed was being great at the beginning of the defense and being great at the end of the defense,” Ham said. “Transition defense, defensive rebound. Everything in the middle we can figure out.
“We’ve done a great job guarding the pick-and-roll, done a great job with our shifts and activity. Had a lot of great clips, guys competing on the ball. But again, those first six seconds and those last six seconds are huge.”
Some of the Lakers’ struggles with rebounding stems from some of their bigger players being out with injuries: forward Cam Reddish (sprained right ankle), forward Jarred Vanderbilt (right foot sprain) and big man Christian Wood (left knee effusion).
But they’re optimistic they can still improve their rebounding even with their bigger bodies being sidelined.
“It’s just a matter of will,” Ham said. “Getting in position early, doing…
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