Lakers' defense was good in win over Kings, says coach JJ Redick

Defense was a sizable concern for the Los Angeles Lakers coming into this season, especially considering they were 20th in defensive rating last season, and it remains a concern. Through nine games, they rank 21st in defensive rating, 25th in opponents' points off turnovers per game and last in opponents' second-chance points per game.

In Wednesday's game against the Sacramento Kings , the Lakers fell behind early due to their defense. With 5:36 left in the first quarter, they were down 18-11 and looked to be in some trouble. But at that point, they pulled themselves together and ended the period tied at 28, and they powered their way to a 116-103 victory .

It wasn't exactly a good offensive outing for Los Angeles, but for a change, its defense allowed it to come away with a win. Coach JJ Redick outlined how their defense came through during this contest in Northern California, via Lakers Nation .

"Any time you can get a stop, it's great," Redick said on Spectrum SportsNet after the win. "Ideally, you can get a stop without the other team shooting the ball. I think when the game started, we were a little flat. I called an early timeout when they had 16 points, they scored 87 for the last 43 minutes and 27 seconds or whatever it was after I called that timeout. So the defense was good. Still, execution-wise, game plan-wise, Stan Van Gundy always used to say if 10 guys play and each guy has a 'my bad, I messed that one up. My bad.' That's 10 mistakes. That could be 20 points, that could be 30 points. "I think as we grow and we become hopefully a great basketball team, we're gonna limit those game plan errors, those my bads. The promising thing on that side of the ball is the effort and the intent to execute I think is really high. Second efforts were really good. We had a number of veer switches and peel switches and scrambles, had a number of late shot clock possessions and shot clock violations. We did a lot on that end and I think the activity overall was really good, save for the first four minutes or whatever it was."

"Any time you can get a stop, it's great," Redick said on Spectrum SportsNet after the win. "Ideally, you can get a stop without the other team shooting the ball. I think when the game started, we were a little flat. I called an early timeout when they had 16 points, they scored 87 for the last 43 minutes and 27 seconds or whatever it was after I called that timeout. So the defense was good. Still, execution-wise, game plan-wise, Stan Van Gundy always used to say if 10 guys play and each guy has a 'my bad, I messed that one up. My bad.' That's 10 mistakes. That could be 20 points, that could be 30 points.

"I think as we grow and we become hopefully a great basketball team, we're gonna limit those game plan errors, those my bads. The promising thing on that side of the ball is the effort and the intent to execute I think is really high. Second efforts were really good. We had a number of veer switches and peel switches and scrambles, had a number of late shot clock possessions and shot clock violations. We did a lot on that end and I think the activity overall was really good, save for the first four minutes or whatever it was."

L.A. held the Kings to 38.9% field-goal shooting and 31.6% from 3-point range, and it forced the Kings into 18 turnovers while coming up with 11 steals and 13 blocks. The Purple and Gold have been excelling at forcing mistakes -- they currently rank third in opponents' turnover percentage, as well as first in points off turnovers per game.

Of course, their offense has largely carried them to a 7-2 record. They're third in 3-point accuracy, second in points per game and first in field-goal percentage and offensive rating, and they're even sixth in fast-break points per game.

Luka Doncic is on a potentially special run to start the campaign, and he's putting up 38.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and eight assists a game while shooting 49.5% overall, 43.1% from 3-point range and 89.3% from the free throw line. He has scored at least 40 points in his last three games and five of his last six contests, and he's making it look very routine.