Even though Patrick Beverley played very poor basketball in October and November, lately he has turned things around, even if very few have noticed.
He finished December shooting an even 50.0 percent overall and 41.2 percent from 3-point range. That is more in line with the type of 3-and-D player the Los Angeles Lakers thought they were getting when they traded Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson for him last summer.
The Lakers have many deficiencies as a team, but there is one thing they actually do about as well as any team in the NBA – get out and score on fast breaks and early offense opportunities.
The defense Beverley is capable of playing helps spark those opportunities, and he emphasized that after the team’s 121-115 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
“It was fun. Able to get some blocked shots, able to get some stops, get out in transition, game is fun that way. Anytime we get the ball in transition we’re a hard team to beat so that goes with getting stops, getting rebounds, and deflections and all that. When we’re that type of team, I don’t know, for two or three quarters we put ourselves in a position to win a lot of basketball games.”
Los Angeles actually ranks fourth in the league in fast-break points per game. Indeed, it is one of the few categories they rank among the top five or 10 in.
The Lakers have shown they can run teams out of the gym in extended spurts. However, they have had trouble maintaining that level of basketball for 48 minutes, and it is something they must rectify if they will have any shot at reaching the playoffs.
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Lakers player grades: Los Angeles ends road trip on a positive note
Story originally appeared on LeBron Wire
