The "Age" old question

"The reason you can't play defense is because you can't," Lakers legend and Hall of Famer Jerry West told a group of automotive dealers in Orange County late last month. West suggested the Lakers are too “long in the tooth” and that there is reasonable cause for concern.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and the Lakers have started a seven game road trip three from three with wins over the New Orleans Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, and the latest upset of east coast rivals the Boston Celtics with a typical defensive slugfest.

In the fourth quarter the Lakers held the Hornets to 13 points on 27.3% shooting and allowed the Grizzlies 16 points on 30% shooting. Most notably, the Lakers shut down the Celtics, allowing them to shoot only 30.2% in the second half, a team who leads the league in field goals with 49.7%. The Lakers also managed to dominate the paint, outscoring the Celtics by 18 and collecting 11 more rebounds.

This season the Lakers rank pretty high defensively, holding opponents to 44.1% shooting —good enough for fourth in the league— and only allowing 96.4 points—10^th best in the NBA— while ranking first for defensive rebounds.

The Lakers are far from the youngest team in the NBA with 10 players on the Lakers roster 30 years or older including four of their starting five with Bryant 32, Artest 31, Gasol 30 and Fisher 36. They aren’t the fastest team around but I don’t think there is any reason to panic, this is a team coming off back to back championships from three consecutive trips to the finals.

There is still a long way to go in this season and Phil Jackson’s response to critics couldn’t sum it up any better, “Is it the playoffs yet? No.”