Lakers, Explained: What is up with this team's defense?

After our last podcast covered the Lakers' wild win over the Atlanta Hawks and seven-day road trip, for today’s show, co-hosts Anthony Irwin and Harrison Faigen were joined by Mo Dakhil of Bleacher Report and The Athletic for their annual early season conversation to discuss the overarching basketball questions about this team as a whole. But first, Anthony needed to know: Why is Mo hating on the Lakers by dropping them down in his latest power rankings? Then Harrison was curious if Mo had ever had his own Courtside Karen experience during his days as an NBA and Australian national team video coordinator. After that, the three of them got into how the Lakers have played so far, and the outstanding production of Alex Caruso. But while the team has one of the best records in the NBA, but have also clearly coasted and/or struggled at times, both during their recent road trip and before. Is there anything there that concerns any of them long-term about the defending champs, and what is going on with the defense? Is it actually as good as the metrics suggest, and if so, why does it often look so poor when it goes wrong? Harrison, Anthony and (most importantly) Mo all have some theories about what is up with that end of the floor and a whole lot more. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen, Anthony at @AnthonyIrwinLA, and Mo at @MoDakhil_NBA. You can read his latest power rankings here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices