Lakers News: LA's Clutch Play Setting Standard For Rest Of NBA

This has become LA's identity.

At 10-7, your Los Angeles Lakers have had some major ups and downs to start the season. 

Some close wins against the Clippers, Cavaliers, Rockets, and Suns (2x), along with blowout victories over Memphis and Utah, have been mixed in with blowout losses to Sacramento, Houston, and Orlando. 

The one common denominator, however, is how well the Lakers play down the stretch of games – especially in the 4th quarter.

In fact, LA paces the league in fourth quarter net rating, and it isn't even particularly close, according to NBA.com:

Via: nba.com (as of 11/26/23)

Net rating is defined as a team's offensive rating minus their defensive rating. With a higher offensive rating being good, and a lower defensive rating being good, the overall higher net rating that a team has, the better.

With a net rating of 17.7 in the 4th quarter, they lead the 2nd-place Bucks by a reasonable amount, and sit with twice the net rating of the 5th-place and 11-5 Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Such clutch play has enabled the Lakers to come back from any deficit, late in games.

As they currently sit as the 2nd-worst 1st quarter team in the league, their 4th-quarter play often re-opens the door in contests where they trail by double-digits. 

This was true most recently in their game against Dallas, as LA trailed by 20 at one point, but ended up clawing their way back, having the lead with as little as 22 seconds left. 

In their second win against Phoenix, LA trailed by 14, but won the 4th quarter by 10 points behind clutch buckets from LeBron James and Cam Reddish. 

With their veteran experience, lockdown defense, and consistently clutch shot-making from LeBron James and Austin Reaves, LA is more than capable of coming back from any deficit and closing out a game. 

This is, of course, much harder against good teams, making the focus of their season at this stage to be improving on their 29th-best first quarter net rating, as some holes have been dug too deep for them to climb out of. 

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