The Lakers had some serious offensive struggles down the stretch of regulation against New Orleans Wednesday. After Austin Reaves made a lay-up in transition with 7:06 to play in the fourth, the Lakers went four minutes without making another field goal, and then another three minutes before Matt Ryan’s heroics sent the game to overtime.
A mix of turnovers, poorly-timed hero ball, and a couple of inexplicable misses at the rim almost set up the Lakers for failure, so the team had to simplify its offensive approach in overtime. The key: find the weak link on defense.