Lakers' 11-2 start holds up under scrutiny, but Reaves' heel hangs over the trip to Phoenix
Yahoo Sports says the Lakers' fast start is built to last, with defense in the lead. Austin Reaves' heel injury is the open question going into Phoenix.
The Lakers are 11-2, and the case that the start is real now rests on the defense as much as on Luka Dončić. That was the conclusion of Steve Jones Jr. at Yahoo Sports, who went through a Western Conference that is unusually strong at the top. Citing NBA figures, he noted that eight of the league's ten best offenses, six of the ten best defenses and seven of the ten best net ratings belong to West teams.
Los Angeles sits first in that group. Jones credits Dončić's hot start and the league's top-rated offense, but he argues the real reason the record should hold is a defense that is switching more consistently, containing drives and sending help early. Walker Kessler is central to it. He leads the NBA with 150 contested shots, 11.5 per game, and the Lakers allow 43.1 points in the paint, the fourth-lowest figure in the league. In smaller lineups without Kessler, Jones writes, the switching becomes nearly constant and the effort stays up, and he sees "the vision and the formula" lining up.
The complication is Austin Reaves. ESPN reported that Reaves left Wednesday's 123-112 win at Milwaukee with a left heel injury and did not return. Initial X-rays were negative, and he was scheduled for further evaluation. The Lakers have not lost since Oct. 30, and the Milwaukee result made it seven wins in a row. Losing Reaves for any stretch would test Jones' central point: that the Lakers' identity no longer depends on everything going right on offense.
The competition is tight. San Antonio is right behind at 10-2 after 10 consecutive wins following an 0-2 start. Victor Wembanyama has averaged 36.6 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks over his last five games, according to Yahoo. Minnesota and Houston are both 9-3. In a conference this crowded, a couple of games without a key guard could cost the Lakers the top seed.
What it means for Sunday in Phoenix
The Lakers play at the Suns on Sunday afternoon. They arrive with a scoring margin that supports the record. Across 13 games they have averaged about 122.2 points and allowed about 114.2, a margin of roughly eight points per night. During the seven-game run, the offense has averaged 125.3 points, and the only result closer than six points was a 124-118 home win over Portland. Their two losses came in the first half of the schedule: 136-129 at home to the Trail Blazers and 112-95 at Golden State, the lone game in which they failed to reach 100 points.
Road games have not slowed them down. The Lakers are 6-1 away from home, including wins at Sacramento, Detroit, Atlanta and Milwaukee within the past two weeks. Phoenix would be the last stop before they return home.
The main thing to watch is Reaves' status after his imaging. Without him, more of the ball-handling falls to Dončić, and the defensive rotations Jones described will have to make up for some lost scoring. Updates will be posted on the Lakers team page as the team releases them.