Wednesday 20th November 2024,

Are the Lakers a Better Defensive Team than the Celtics?

Rob January 12, 2011 Blogs, R.S. De France 3 Comments

January 12, 2011 – R.S. De France

While I’ve always been one to stick up for and defend Kobe Bryant, he’s way off base saying the Lakers are better than the Celtics at defense.

Bryant’s comments on defense start in around 3 minutes and 50 seconds in, so towards the end of this clip. Bryant’s post-game comments 1/2/11: http://www.nba.com/lakers/video/originals/

I’ve always defended Bryant, first as a Lakers’ player. His character I sometimes questioned over the years, like many of you. At the end of the day, I think he’s a good man—just misunderstood. And the whole Denver fiasco—unfortunately, basketball players and professional athletes are frequently involved in such scandals. Ben Roethlisberger and Alvin Robertson to name a few. In Bryant’s case, I supported him over the years because I wanted him to reach his potential—to be Jordanesque. Although no one will probably ever equal Michael Jordan in the post-Jordan era, Bryant has come the closest.

To the issue at hand, in this recent post-game interview, Bryant very confidently said that his Lakers is a better defensive team than the Celtics.

Historically, the Celtics is known for defense, starting with another one of the best players ever to play the game Bill Russell—the man with 11 rings (as a player). Yet, the exact amount of blocks and steals accumulated by the 1957-1969 Boston Celtics is unknown because the NBA did not start recording blocks and steals until the 1973-1974 season.

Bill Russell’s amazing defense:

After those great Celtics, there were many more excellent Celtics’ defenders:

Key

Only players ranked in top 100 in NBA history
D.R.=all-time Defensive Rating

The Boston Celtics

1973-1976 (2 titles)

Dave Cowens	5^thD.R.
Jo Jo White	63^rdD.R.
John Havlicek	25^thD.R.

1980-1986 (3 titles)

Larry Bird	28^th in steals	24^th in SPG, 1.73	84^thD.R.
Dennis Johnson	36^th in steals	49^th in SPG, 1.34
Bill Walton	75^th in blocks	17^th in BPG, 2.21	8^thD.R.
Robert Parish	67^th steals	9^th blocks	49^th in BPG, 1.47	99^th D.R.
Kevin McHale	23^rd in blocks	29^thin BPG, 1.74

2007-present (1 title)

Kevin Garnett	26^th in steals	19^thblocks	47^th SPG, 1.36	37^th BPG, 1.57	34^thD.R.
Ray Allen	63^rd steals
Paul Pierce	46^th steals	37^th SPG, 1.5

When you compare the Lakers and Celtics even further, it is a little shocking that each franchise has only had 1 winner of the Defensive Player of the Year Award (DPY). The Lakers’ Michael Cooper won the DPY in 1987, and Garnett won the DPY in 2008.

The Celtics really come out on top when you compare all-time defensive ratings. In franchise history, the Lakers have had 0 players in the top 30 Defensive Ratings, while the Celtics, on the other hand, have had 4, including Paul Silas (13^th).

The Lakers have always been about high-octane offense from Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain to Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Showtime.

The Los Angeles Lakers

1971-1972 (1 title)

No 1971-1972 Lakers’ appear because steals and blocks were not yet recorded, but a team doesn’t win 33 straight games without playing great defense.
1971-’72 Lakers:

1979-1988 (5 titles)

Ervin “Magic” Johnson	15^th in steals	15^th in SPG, 1.90	88^th D.R.
Bob McAdoo	54^th in blocks	48^th in BPG, 1.49	41^st D.R.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	T-80^th in steals	3^rd in blocks	7^th in BPG, 2.57	35^th D.R.
Byron Scott	66^th in steals
Norm Nixon	75^th in steals
Mychal Thompson	70^th in blocks	69^th in BPG, 1.15

2000-present (5 titles)

Kobe Bryant	24^th in steals	36^th in SPG, 1.51
Shaquille O’Neal	7^th in blocks	16^th in BPG	78^th D.R.
Pau Gasol	50^th in blocks	30^th in BPG, 1.73
Derek Fisher	77^th in steals
Robert Horry	74^th in blocks	82^nd in steals	75^th in BPG, 0.94	75^th D.R.
Ron Artest	42^nd in steals	13^th in SPG, 1.96

Lakers’ defense in the 2010 Finals game 6:

While the Shaq-Kobe Lakers were a decent defensive team, mainly due to Shaquille O’Neal, they were primarily an offensive juggernaut. Even the current Kobe-Gasol Lakers are one of the best offensive teams in the league. These Lakers are not a terrible defensive team, but that is not their calling card, no matter what they try to tell themselves.

When Bryant says the Lakers are better than the Celtics at defense, which Lakers team is he talking about? We know Bryant is a basketball historian, so he knows that the Celtics are historically a more dominant defensive team than the Lakers.

If he’s talking about his current Lakers’ squad, there is still almost no evidence to support Bryant’s claim about defense.

The 2010-2011 Celtics

1^st in opponents’ points per game (91.84)

1^st in opponents’ assists per game (18.78)

5^th in steals per game differential (+1.24)

5^th in forcing turnovers (15.84)

6^th in opponents’ field goal % (43.9%)

7^th in steals per game (8.16)

8^th in blocks per game differential (+0.32)

15^th in rebound differential (+0.35)

23^rd in blocks per game (4.35)

The 2010-2011 Lakers

4^th in rebounds differential (+3.53)

4^th in opponents’ field goal % (43.6%)

9^th in steals per game (7.74)

10^th in BPG differential (+0.21)

11^th in opponents’ ppg (96.92)

12^th in blocks per game (5.11)

14^th in SPG differential (+0.08)

20^th in forcing turnovers (14.0)—behind the Detroit Pistons & Indiana Pacers

24^th in opponents’ assists (22.24)

What further separates the Lakers and Celtics is how they deal with winning games that they are not able to dominate, defensively. While the Los Angeles Lakers are 19-2 when they score 100 points or more (90.5%), they are only 8-5 (61.5%) when they give up 100 points or more.

Boston, on the other hand, figures out a way to win in either situation. When scoring 100+, they are 16-1 (94.1%); when they give up 100+, they are 9-2 (81.8%).

Boston Celtics’ defense in the 2008 Finals:

This week the Lakers happen to be better than the Celtics at opponents’ field goal percentage, but the Celtics have been better in that category for most of the season. Last week, for example, the Lakers were 6^th and the Celtics were 3^rd. So, that statistics seems a bit fluid right now. Given almost every defensive statistic available, BPG is the only defensive area where the Lakers are consistently better than the Celtics. Otherwise, the Celtics are the more dominant defensive team—not the Lakers.

In the interview, Kobe talked about his Lakers learning the importance of defense from their heart-breaking loss to the Boston Celtics in 6 games of the 2008 NBA Finals. I’ll give him that. I have bought into that, and this Lakers’ team has shown that they are one of the best defensive teams in the league this season, just not as good—let alone better—than the Boston Celtics.

I think what these Lakers learned most from the 2008 Finals was the importance of having home court advantage throughout the playoffs, something they oddly seem to have little interest in this season.