The Lakers 2nd Half Woes Have Been Problematic

We've been there before; the Lakers start the game well, usually leading by close to 10 points after the first quarter, only to have the lead cut in half by the half. The Lakers come out of the locker room looking lethargic, slow and lazy, often times giving up the lead in the 3rd quarter and playing catch up for the rest of the game. The Lakers problems then become even bigger when the ball stops moving and sticks to Kobe Bryant's or Nick Young's hands in an attempt to cut the deficit.

2013-2014:

As you can see, the 3rd quarter has been a major problem for the team, scoring the least amount of points in a game with only 22.7 points and shooting the lowest percentage from the floor (41.6%), while also having the worst +/- in a game with -2.2. The Lakers assist numbers are also at it's worse in the 4th quarter, though I am struggling to find a plausible reason because Kobe Bryant has only played in 6 games this season and has been a willing passer to start the year.  Is this a coaching problem? Does the team come out of half-time flat and tired under Run N' Gun coach Mike D'Antoni? Here's the data for the past four seasons:

2012-2013:

2011-2012:

2010-2011:

2009-2010:

I know those are a bit hard to read, but the data tells me it isn't a coaching thing; the Lakers have struggled in the 3rd nearly every season and it's kind of a mystery because the same unit that jumps out at the beginning of the game in the first quarter, also plays the 3rd quarter. We can also see how awful the bench was after trading Lamar Odom; the two worst 2nd quarters came in the two seasons after Odom's trade. A noticeable trend that forms in the 3rd quarter is the decline in 3 point percentage and the decline in assists; every single year, the Lakers average less assists per 3rd quarter than in the first two quarters, setting up a huge fall in this category for the fourth quarter, where the Lakers usually average their least amount, consistently less than 5. Compared to the team averaging over 6 assists for the first quarter every year, this is a massive drop off.  Combined with less assists, there is not a major decline in turnovers, while simultaneously showing a decrease in steals and blocks.

So if it isn't D'Antoni's fault, then what is it? For one, the Lakers have historically relied on the brilliance of Kobe Bryant to help try and close out the game, often times letting Bryant run isolations at the top of the key or in the post. While Bryant is very effective in this role, it also leaves the rest of the team standing and watching, which was a notorious problem during the mid 2000's, as the team would stand around and watch "The Kobe Bryant Show". While this did lead to some spectacular individual seasons from Bryant, including the highest scoring average since Michael Jordan's 37.1 points per game in 1986-87 with 35.4 points per game, it also led to some very frustrating losses, as the Lakers off-ball movement would stop almost entirely.

During the past few seasons, "The Kobe Bryant Show" hasn't been on full display, as Bryant has made an effort to get everybody involved and would only try to take over the game whenever necessary, or in crunch time, which would explain the Lakers lack of assists in the 4th quarter. However, when Bryant starts to play in this way, the team will still not move well without the ball and, should they get the ball during this time, they'll often hoist up a bad, contested shot because they feel like they won't have another chance to get the ball. In years past, this wasn't as big of a problem, because Bryant was the best scorer since Jordan, and he could put the team over the top when he needed, but now, with Bryant out with a fractured knee (and before that, a torn Achilles), the Lakers have been trying to play "Hero Ball" with the assortment of misfits they signed this off season, namely Nick Young. This isn't anywhere near as effective, because Bryant is still a brilliant playmaker at times, while Young is almost strictly a scorer. It makes the offense extremely predictable and it makes beating good teams a lot harder than it should be.

This is a problem that will persist until the Lakers completely change their mind-sets in the 4th quarter, or until they get a more effective No. 1 option than the 35-year old Bryant. It may be a few years until we see see better 4th quarters out of this team; hopefully, it'll happen if the Kevin Love rumors come true.

Nick Young Could Win the Sixth Man of the Year Award

Nick Young is really something, isn't he? Coming into this year, he was one of the most one-dimensional

players on the Lakers roster, providing offense and not much else. Surprisingly, this hasn't been the case to start the year, as Young has amassed a 0.3 DWS, which doesn't seem like much (admittedly, it isn't), but it's only 0.7 DWS away from matching his career high and we're only 18 games into the season. At the very least, Young is trying to play defense, which is all we can ask for out of him. So while Young is on pace to set his highest DWS in his career, he's also putting up his highest PER ever at 16.4 to go along with a career-high WS/48 of .116. Young is putting up 14.2 points per game on 44.1% shooting and having a career-best 20.4 points per 36 minutes of game time. The big observation here is the difference in production between him starting and him coming off the bench. It's remarkable how large the difference is, it's almost as if we're looking at an entirely different player.

	G	GS	FG%	3P%	FT%	TS%	USG%	ORtg	DRtg	PTS	AST	REB
Starter	6	6	33.3%	23.5%	86.4%	47.2%	22.1	92	106	9.5	2.5	0.5
Bench	11	0	47.4%	41.3%	76.2%	58.0%	22.4	117	109	16.5	1.6	1.5

While there are some stats that hardly change, namely the Usage % and the small difference between assists per game and rebounds per game, most of the numbers indicate Young being substantially better with the second unit than with the starters. His 47.4% field goal percentage from the floor marks an major improvement in both shot selection and shot creation, and has improved his True Shooting Percentage by a wide margin, as well as having a very good, very sustainable shooting percentage from three point range. The biggest difference comes in Offensive Rating, where Young went from a horrid 92 to a very impressive 117. For reference, his 117 Offensive Rating would rank just below Denver's Ty Lawson and Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and place him 21st in the league. 

So while Young has been very productive off the bench, we do have to take into account the rest of league's top reserves. Here's the top 5 so far: 

1. Ryan Anderson, NOP: We've talked about Anderson before, during last season's Pau Gasol Trade Rumors debacle. Anderson is one of the most underrated players in the league, quite possibly in NBA history. Anderson is the league leader in Offensive Rating with an absolutely ridiculous 135 rating. For reference, Michael Jordan's highest O Rating was a "mere" 125. Anderson's WS/48 is currently at .231, which would sandwich him at 7th between Minnesota's Kevin Love and Houston's James Harden. That is some elite company, to say the least. Anderson is averaging 22.6 points per game on 51.6% shooting and hauling in 5.5 rebounds per game. Normally, Anderson would be running away with the award, but since Anthony Davis broke his left hand yesterday, Anderson will be moved into the starting lineup and may not qualify for the award with Davis expected to miss 4-6 weeks. 
2. Isaiah Thomas, SAC: This leads us to our front runner due to injury, Isaiah Thomas (no, not that Isiah Thomas). Thomas isn't nearly as impressive as Anderson, but is still a solid candidate to win it. His .145 WS/48 is the highest in his career, as is his surprisingly good 21.1 PER, which ranks him 17th, ahead of Washington's John Wall and Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge and just below New York's Carmelo Anthony. Thomas is averaging 17.1 points and 4.6 assists per game in 28 minutes of playing time. It's safe to say that he should be getting a few extra minutes in there as he has been the Kings' second best player to start the year. 
3. Rodney Stuckey, DET: Another player having a career year, Stuckey has career highs in WS/48 (.156), PER (20.4), Offensive Rating (114) and points per game (16.9), all while shooting an efficient 49% from the floor. Stuckey is leading the team in scoring and has the second best PER and WS/48 on the team, behind the hulking Andre Drummond, and has easily been Detroit's best perimeter player this year. 
4. Jamal Crawford, LAC: Crawford is a player who has been Top-5 in Sixth man of the year voting for the past five years in a row, and won the award in 2009-2010 with the Atlanta Hawks. Like Young, Crawford was a player known for not playing defense, when he finally started to display a more complete game in 2009. Crawford has a PER of 17.7 and a WS/48 of .111 while averaging 16 points on 45.2% shooting. He's not a front runner at the moment, but is still in the conversation. 
5. Jeremy Lin, HOU: It would seem as though Lin has fallen a bit, going from Linsanity in New York, to starting point guard in Houston, to losing the starting job to Patrick Beverley. Lin, however, has been a lot more effective in a scoring role off the bench, having a career high .166 WS/48 and averaging 15.3 points per game on 50.3% shooting. The only knock on Lin has to be his turnovers; he's averaging the same amount as last year (2.9), but his assists have dropped by nearly 2 whole assists per game (it was 6.1 last year, it's 4.6 this year). Those are some awful numbers for a point guard. 

Young has some stiff competition for the award, but if he keeps playing like this, it's certainly obtainable for him. I can only imagine how much better he could be playing once Kobe Bryant finally makes his way back. It's almost seems ridiculous that Young was had for the veteran minimum this off season, and his play has largely contributed to the Lakers having one of the best second units in the league.