NBA 2018-19 analysis: Reasons for Lakers struggles during their recent road trip

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most fun teams to watch this season. They started of their season with a 2-5 record but recovered brilliantly to turn their season around.

Lakers went 10-4 in the month of November and were one of the top teams in the NBA. Any team with LeBron James on it will be elite. They were also good on their home stretch during the month of December. They got good victories against the Mavericks, Suns and Spurs at the Staples Center. They had a blow out win in Memphis and then came back to the Staples Center to defeat the Miami Heat.

Since then, they have struggled to perform at a consistent level. The team became over reliant on the displays of James, Ball and Kuzma and went 1-3 on their recently concluded road trip. Two of those defeats were against the below par Wizards and Nets.

Here are the top three reasons for the Lakers struggles during the road trip:

#3 Lack of effort on Defense:

The Lakers could not get defensive stops

The Lakers have surprisingly been a very good defensive team this season. They have been a top 10 team in defensive rating. But they lacked execution on the defensive end of the floor during this road trip.

The Lakers conceded 126 points, 128 points and 115 points in their losses against the Rockets, Wizards and Nets respectively. They just could not get stops on the defensive end at any junction of the matches.

James Harden dropped a 50 point triple double on them. They struggled for the entire match to keep him from the free throw line. Even the struggling John Wall went off against them for 40 points and 14 assists performance.

The Lakers need to get back their defensive focus to compete in the Western Conference.

#2 Absence of several key players:

The Lakers had already been playing without Rajon Rondo for some time now. But on this road trip they were also without their young star Brandon Ingram.

Without Ingram in the lineup, the bench unit simply looks lifeless. Ingram used to start the games for Lakers and also play huge minutes with the bench unit. He would be the primary decision maker for the bench unit and the Lakers bench rallied behind his displays. But in his absence, the bench unit could not give any production.

The Lakers starters gave good production. But the bench unit got massively outplayed. In the recently concluded encounter against the Nets, the bench was outscored 48-18 points. This has put tremendous pressure on the starting unit and has also increased their minutes per game.

Javale McGee also sat out the last two losses and that further shrank the roster.

#1 Poor free throw shooting:

LeBron James has struggled recently from the free throw line

The Lakers were a poor free throw shooting team before the season. They have been historically bad this season.

The Lakers are dead last in the NBA when it comes to free throw shooting. They shot 55%, 61% and 56% from the free throw line in their losses against the Rockets, Wizards and Nets respectively.

LeBron James has also been a culprit for poor free throw shooting. He is shooting only 68% from the free throw line. Lonzo Ball, being the starting point guard for the Lakers, is shooting an abysmal 50% from the free throw line. It is not easy on the road when the team is shooting these historically bad numbers from the charity stripe.

The Lakers must improve their free throw shooting. While other teams are relishing from the free throw line, the Lakers are struggling mightily and that has been significant in their recent struggle.