Lakers defensive buy-in propelled them to second round of NBA playoffs

HOUSTON — Austin Reaves couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it happened. But he remembered what sparked the Lakers’ defensive turnaround, which has carried over for 3 ½ months, through their first-round playoff series victory over the Rockets, which ended with Friday’s 98-78 Game 6 victory at Toyota Center.Nearly midway through the regular season, the Lakers ranked 26th in defensive rating, performing even worse on the less glamorous end of the floor than even their biggest detractors expected entering the season.Only a few of the worst teams in the NBA (Kings, Pelicans, Wizards and Jazz) ranked worse than them defensively at the time. The Lakers knew a change was needed, and it came during their 110-93 win over the Raptors on Jan.18, when they started playing more zone defense than they had up to that point in the season.Positive results immediately followed, with the Lakers ranking as an above-average defensive team (13th) in their 14 games leading into the All-Star break en route to ranking 12th in defensive rating over their final 42 games.“Our voices, we were talking more, we were rotating more — that was like a starter for us to kind of get the feel of what that communication looks like,” Reaves said.

“And then we could change defenses, we could throw different schemes.”Even though the Lakers barely played zone defense against the Rockets, the carryover from what coach JJ Redick and his staff were looking to emphasize was evident.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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Never miss a story “When we started first playing zone, it did force everybody to communicate with one another and force guys that other teams probably wouldn’t see as communicators to be able to communicate, which ultimately put them in the right position because now they’re talking,...