{"id":126820,"date":"2025-03-04T07:30:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T12:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=126820"},"modified":"2026-03-10T23:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T03:18:15","slug":"lakers-championship-contender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/04\/lakers-championship-contender\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Try to Copy Bucks Championship Formula"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers have the best defensive rating<\/a> in the league since January 10. Since January 10, the Lakers are 18-5, and they are beating teams with their defense. It is worth noting that Anthony Davis<\/a> was part of only a handful of those games. He was hurt, and then he got traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Luka Doncic<\/a>. Defense wins championships, so are the Lakers a championship contender?<\/p>\n

Lakers Try to Copy Bucks Championship Formula<\/h2>\n

People who do not watch the Lakers might be wondering how are they able to have the best defense<\/a>, without their defensive anchor. Well, it is a formula that the Milwaukee Bucks used to win a championship. It is a type of defense that might get exposed against good shooting teams. But the Lakers used that formula to beat teams like the Celtics, Nuggets, Mavericks, Warriors, and the Knicks in that stretch.<\/p>\n

During that period, the Lakers have a defensive rating of 108.5, first in the league<\/a>. Ironically, they do it by allowing three-point shots. If you remember those Bucks teams, they clogged the paint with Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and Brook Lopez<\/a>. They protected the mid-range and the paint. During the regular season, this type of defense is low-maintenance and low-impact. Guys do not have to rush and cover every three-point shot. It helps reduce wear and tear and protects against injuries. But can it work in the playoffs?<\/p>\n

Are the Lakers a Championship Contender?<\/h3>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers are second in the Western Conference. It is worth noting that in the West, the difference between the second seed and the fifth seed is three losses. Any losing or winning streak can change things. For example, the Rockets were the second seed not all that long ago, but they are 5-5 in their last ten games.<\/p>\n

As we mentioned, the Lakers have used a similar defensive scheme to the Bucks. They can afford it by using good perimeter defenders like Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a> and Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a> to \u201cchoose\u201d who they want to take all the threes.<\/p>\n

Looking at the stats, the Lakers have allowed 39.8 three-point attempts per game<\/a> from January 10. They have allowed the seventh-most per game over that time period. But opponents have shot only 33.4% against them, good for third in the league during the stretch from January 10.<\/p>\n

Someone might say this system made sense ten years ago when teams didn\u2019t shoot as many threes as they do now. Not many guys could consistently take that shot. The reality is though that not every team has a Steph Curry<\/a> on their roster, or multiple \u201clasers\u201d, as LeBron James<\/a> calls the shooters.<\/p>\n

The Tough Stretch Ahead<\/h3>\n

The Lakers have swarmed the ball along the perimeter thanks to their defenders, made strong rotations, and have played with a championship-contender effort. Thanks to Doncic taking over the offensive load<\/a>, LeBron has put more effort into defense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the Lakers want to be a serious championship contender, they will have to respond to the tough stretch ahead. From March 6 to March 14, they play four games against the best offenses in the league. First, they play the Knicks at home, before going on the road against the Celtics, Bucks, and Nuggets. Their only easy game during that period is at Brooklyn against the Nets.<\/p>\n

Bettors Believe in the Lakers as a Championship Contender<\/h3>\n

If we look at the some betting sites, the Lakers have climbed up in the standings. They have either the fourth or the fifth best title odds<\/a> on websites behind the Celtics, Thunder, Cavaliers, and Nuggets. Some websites have them in the same category as the Nuggets, while others have them behind.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers have the best defensive rating in the league since January 10. Since January 10, the Lakers are 18-5, and they are beating teams with their defense. It is worth noting that Anthony Davis was part of only a handful of those games. He was hurt, and then he got traded to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":126838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,15,62],"tags":[2951,38,1133],"class_list":["post-126820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-bucks","category-nba","tag-defense","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126820"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180974,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126820\/revisions\/180974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}