Lakers: How Los Angeles Finally Remembered To Guard Dudes In The Fourth Quarter For Tonight's Win

How LA clamped down on defense when it mattered most.

After a back-and-forth third quarter, your Los Angeles Lakers led the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 88-85 heading into the fourth quarter tonight at the Staples Center, in the teams' first matchup of the 2021-22 season. As we learned on Wednesday, however, if a 26-point Lakers advantage against a winless team isn't safe, then surely a three-point edge over a pretty good Cleveland club with 12 minutes left in regulation is tenuous at best.

Then the Lakers honed in on their defense (!) for the quarter and let their savvy veterans' offense (particularly the hot shooting of Carmelo Anthony) carry them home, outscoring the Cavaliers 25-16 in the final quarter to pull away and seal a 113-101 win.

A big factor tonight was head coach Frank Vogel opting to swap out Malik Monk in favor of scrap-heap addition Avery Bradley for the game's second half. Bradley, 30, a defense-first guard whose offensive output cratered last season with the Heat and Rockets, proved to be a huge boon in lineups with LA tonight. In 23 minutes, Bradley scored seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field (and was 1-of-1 from deep), grabbed three boards, and was a team-high plus-30 for the evening. After showing his defensive deficiencies during a first-half Cleveland scoring run, Monk (who was a team-low -11) was relegated to the bench for the entire second half. He played just a hair over five minutes tonight.

Undrafted rookie wing Austin Reaves also appears to have carved out a legitimate place in Vogel's rotation. In almost 21 minutes tonight, he also scored seven points (on 2-of-4 shooting), in addition to pulling down three boards, dishing out two dimes, and even registering a block. He was +1 on the night. Reaves appears to be an instinctive defender, and at 6'5" could handle various defensive assignments against Cleveland.

By employing defense-first lineups featuring Bradley and/or Reaves, plus shifting Anthony Davis to center and minimizing the minutes loads of Dwight Howard and especially nominal starting five DeAndre Jordan, the Lakers were able to pull away from the upstart Cavaliers during a hotly-contested game to return their season record to a respectably mediocre 3-3. 

Let's take a look at the lineups Frank Vogel favored in the game's decisive fourth quarter tonight. You'll note that, as usual with winning Lakers basketball, DeAndre Jordan is nowhere to be seen:

36:00-39:45 - Russell Westbrook (PG)/Austin Reaves (SG)/LeBron James (SF)/Carmelo Anthony (PF)/Dwight Howard (C)

The Lakers were mildly outscored by Cleveland with this lineup, 3-2. The principle was sound, however: Howard could handle $100 million Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen in short bursts with pesky, physical play, while Reaves could help cover up Westbrook's defensive mistakes in the backcourt and James could similarly help spell Anthony's gaffes.

39:45-41:07 - LeBron (PG)/Reaves (SG)/Kent Bazemore (SF)/Melo (PF)/Dwight (C)

LeBron took over lead ball-handling duties from Russell Westbrook here (though he generally guarded small forwards on the other end), and the more defensive-oriented Kent Bazemore, the club's starting shooting guard (for now), returned to the game to pressure the Cavaliers backcourt. This lineup matched the output of the Cavaliers, with each team scoring three points.

41:07-44:14 - Avery Bradley (PG)/Bazemore (SG)/LeBron (SF)/Melo (PF)/Anthony Davis (C)

With the advent of Bradley and Davis, the Lakers went almost all-in on a switchier defensive lineup, with plus defenders at four of the five positions, plus Carmelo Anthony's hot shooting to help spread the floor. 

This was the most successful lineup in the quarter for the Lakers, the group that really opened the game up once and for all for LA. They outscored Cleveland 9-1 during their 3:07 of floor time in the period.

44:14-46:47 - Westbrook/Bradley/LeBron/Melo/Davis

This was the last meaningful lineup of the night that Frank Vogel employed. By the 1:13 mark, he had replaced each of these guys outside of Bradley with the victory now a fait accompli.

With Westbrook now in for Bazemore, the Lakers lost some floor spacing and defensive flexibility but gained some passing and interior scoring creativity. The Lakers outscored Cleveland by 8-6 during this window.

The unifying factor in all these lineups? Beyond the notable absences of Malik Monk or DeAndre Jordan, it's pretty interesting how much Vogel leaned on two last-minute additions to the team over significantly starrier veterans. Aside from 1:13 of garbage time to close the game, Bradley played for 5:40 of the quarter's 10:47 of meaningful hoops, while Reaves suited up for 5:07.

Both players number among the club's better backcourt defenders, and thus did not overlap at all in Vogel's lineups, as they fulfilled more of less the same function while on the floor separately. 

Another part of the Lakers' strategy down the stretch, on both ends actually, was targeting hapless $67.5 million Cavaliers forward Lauri Markkanen. Here's Anthony Davis with a brutal rejection of a Markkanen dunk attempt, followed by LeBron James with a slick up-and-under blow-by layup against Markkanen on the other end:

AD & Bron making plays down the stretch. It's what they do. 💪 pic.twitter.com/MaxGQbzgK4

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 30, 2021

Cleveland's final point tally tonight marks the first time throughout the young season in which the Lakers have held an opponent below 115 points in a win or loss. Let's hope it's the first of many.

On paper, LA's schedule looks like it will ease up in the coming week, as the Lakers will face off twice against the 1-4 Rockets, then do battle against the 1-4 Thunder, the team that handed LA an ignominious 123-115 last-minute defeat this past Wednesday.

Our fingers are crossed that, with these lineup tweaks, Frank Vogel has found a way to steady the ship during a relatively easy portion of the Lakers' season, until further defensive reinforcements (Wayne Ellington, Trevor Ariza, Talen Horton-Tucker) can arrive.