Along with Ron Artest, the Lakers have added something brand new this year—DEFENSE!
Maybe it’s due to the fact that Ron Artest has long been considered one of the best lock-down defenders in the NBA.
It might also be that the coaching has finally gotten through to the players.
It could also be that knowing they are the DEFENDING NBA Champs and knowing that they must DEFEND their title, the players themselves have made team defense their number one priority.
More than likely it is a combination of all three: the addition of Artest, the coaching and the intense desire to defend their title.
But whatever it is the Lakers after 20 games are the number one rated defense overall. In points allowed, they are ranked eighth. Last season, they were ranked in the bottom tier of the NBA.
To date, the Lakers have only allowed 95.3 points per game while scoring the league’s fifth-highest average 104.4.
The number one rated offense and the Lakers’ closest rival in the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets, have scored an average of 109.points per game, about 4.5 points more than the Lakers.
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Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Paul Peszko
The Lakers Have Added Something New This Year
December 10th, 2009 by Paul Peszko Leave a reply »
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