L.A. Times: It’s going to take all the Lakers, not just the point guards, to slow down ballhandlers who have given the Lakers trouble, Derek Fisher said after practice Thursday.
Fisher and Jordan Farmar must do their part, for sure, because they are the first line of defense. But they alone shouldn’t be accountable, Fisher said.
“The great defensive teams are not only the ones that are great on on-ball defense, but it’s really those four guys behind the guy guarding the ball that make the difference,” Fisher said. “We’re still improving in that area.”
So help needs to come from Kobe Bryant, Vladimir Radmanovic, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.
After not giving up more than 100 points in any of their first seven games, the Lakers have allowed into triple digits in four of their last six games as point guards such as Jason Kidd, Devin Harris, T.J. Ford and Andre Miller have constantly been able to get into the teeth of the Lakers’ defense and disrupt.
“Screen-roll [defense] is one of our weaknesses as a team,” Coach Phil Jackson said.
The Lakers will avoid facing another top-notch point guard tonight because Washington Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas is still out after knee surgery.
“We’ve just been trying to key on stopping and containing dribble penetration with the ball,” Fisher said. “I think at times we’ve lost sight of that because some teams have better frontcourt players.”
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