Lakers’ lack of assists does not come from lack of ball movement

Statistics suggest the Lakers’ five-game losing streak has mostly offered the opposite of Luke Walton’s vision for his basketball team.

From the time he was hired as head coach in June, Walton has painted a future full of stingy defense and relentless ball movement. The injury-riddled Lakers (10-15) have not won since Nov. 30 — their most recent defeat coming to the Suns, 119-115, on Friday night — and it would seem that defense and ball movement are at a heavy premium.

The Lakers have given up 100 or more points in all five losses and have not reached 20 assists in six consecutive games. That first statistic is undeniable: The defense has been bad. But the low assist numbers do not necessarily indicate a detour from the blueprint of Walton’s free-flowing offense.

“We’ve just got to make shots, plain and simple,” said Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson, adding he has mostly been fine with the ball movement in recent games. “I think we’re getting guys shots and we’ve just got to make them.”

Poor shooting and injuries are the main culprits for the Lakers’ lack of December assists.

The team is currently playing without starting point guard D’Angelo Russell (knee soreness), starting shooting guard Nick Young (calf), backup point guard Jose Calderon (hamstring) and backup center Tarik Black (ankle). That, as expected, has led to less offensive flow — Russell and Young are averaging a combined 29 points this season — and hurt the team’s perimeter shooting — Russell, Young and Calderon are all reliable three-point shooters on a team that does not have many.

But it has also left the Lakers’ offense with limited ways of scoring. The Lakers are heavily leaning on Lou Williams, who has scored more than 35 points in three of the last four games and netted that number against the Suns. Williams is a good spot-up shooter but is most effective as an isolation scorer. The option after him has been Clarkson, who is at his best in pick-and-roll scenarios.

Neither situation — Williams in isolation and Clarkson looking to score off a screen — is going to regularly lead to assists. The injuries have also made Williams and Clarkson go from dangerous off-the-ball scorers to regular ballhandlers. And still, the Lakers have been moving the ball fairly well during their six-game stretch with 20 or fewer assists.

The Lakers are averaging 287.4 passes per game this season, and have surpassed that in three of the six games. In one other they finished just below their average with 285. The Lakers had notched 20 or more assists in the eight games before this stretch, but their total passing numbers were only slightly higher, on average. The difference was that at least one of Russell, Young or Calderon played in all eight of those games, and a lot more shots were going in.

The Lakers have shot worse than 40% in only four of their 25 games this season. Two of them have come during their current losing streak.

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Forward Larry Nance Jr. talks to reporters about the Lakers’ 119-115 to the Phoenix Suns.

“Obviously we’re not scoring at the same clip we were before,” Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. said of the assist numbers. “We’re missing some shooters. I’m sure it’s a lot of different reasons. Groups that are not used to playing with each other. It’s a work in progress and it’s only going to go up from here.”

Passing, as evidenced by the Lakers’ recent stretch, does not necessarily equal productive offense and it certainly does not necessarily equal wins.

The Lakers had highest number of passes (323) in their worst loss of the season, a 149-106 thrashing at Golden State on Nov. 23. The 76ers lead the NBA in passes per game (354.3) and have its worst record at 5-18. There are two parts to an assist, a pass and a made shot, and the shot will always be the deciding factor.

But it should be comforting that the Lakers have not lost their way offensively, even with injuries taking away perimeter shooters and offensive balance. Walton wants a team that moves the ball, and his players have not completely forgotten that.

“At the same time we definitely need to move the ball more,” said Clarkson, mirroring his coach’s perpetual discontent. “But we’ve just got to make shots.”