The Whiteboard: Lakers’ defensive mojo, Blazers depth, Jrue Holiday and more

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The Milwaukee Bucks are one win from advancing to the second round and the arc of their three victories over the Miami Heat is just taking them further and further from last year’s postseason letdown. The Bucks needed overtime to escape Game 1 but they’ve now taken Games 2 and 3 by a combined 63 points.

Jrue Holiday, the most glaring difference between last year’s roster and this year’s iteration, has been exactly what they needed. Holiday has hit just 3-of-13 from beyond the arc but the Bucks have outscored the Heat by 88 points in the 107 minutes he’s been on the court. That pace would equate to a 39-point margin in a 48-minute game.

Holiday has averaged 16.7 points, 10.0 assists, 7.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, working exceptionally well as the complementary creator the Bucks desperately needed last season. He’s also had a significant impact on defense — matched up as Goran Dragic‘s primary defender on roughly 55 possessions so far, he’s helped hold Dragic to just 8 points with 2 turnovers and 2 assists. The Heat have managed just 641. points per 100 possessions in the possessions Holiday has been on Dragic and the pressure he’s applied has continued to make thing difficult for Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.

A second-round matchup with the Brooklyn Nets, who have looked similarly dominant against the Boston Celtics, is looming but the Bucks have to feel confident about their chances. They matched up well incredibly well during the regular season and they’re peaking right now.

The Portland Trail Blazers might not have the depth to get past the Nuggets

The Trail Blazers’ starting lineup solidified after the February trade for Norman Powell and over the rest of the season, they outscored opponents by an average of 13.2 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor with Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkic. And even in this first-round series against the Nuggets, they’ve performed well, outscoring Denver by 13 points in the 56 minutes they played together. The problem has been everything else.

The Blazers have been outscored 23 points in the 88 minutes that starting five hasn’t been on the floor together and their lack of depth has been obvious. In Game 3, Carmelo Anthony and Anfernee Simons were the only non-starters to play more than 10 minutes — they combined to shoot 6-of-15 from the field without logging an assist. Enes Kanter has been unplayably ineffective and that’s essentially the extent of Portland’s bench options.

The Blazers have one clear advantage in this series, with the three-guard combination of Lillard, McCollum and Powell really pushing Denver. But they don’t appear to have only one usable frontcourt pairing to put with them and there’s only so much blood they can squeeze from this stone.

The Lakers have found their defensive mojo

The Lakers took Game 3 from the Phoenix Suns, giving them a 2-1 series lead that feels even more commanding than that considering the involvement of LeBron James and the nagging shoulder injury to Chris Paul.

Anthony Davis recommitting himself to the interior has been a huge factor. Over the past two games, he’s attempted 35 free throws and 40 percent of his shot attempts have come in the restricted area, compared to 25 percent in Game 1 and 28 percent in the regular season. And while this change has buoyed the Lakers’ offense, the entire team taking things to the next level on defense has really been the difference.

The Lakers have been swarming ball-handlers, closing down penetration while recovering quickly to close down space at the 3-point line. Over the past two games, the Lakers have surrendered just 23 open (no defender within four feet) or wide-open (no defender within six feet) 3-point attempts per game. In Game 1, the Suns managed 25 and during the regular season, they averaged 31.1 per game. In the regular season, the Suns logged an average of 50.1 potential assists per game, the second-highest total in the league. In Game 1, they logged just 43 and over the past two games, it’s dropped down to 40.5.

In last season’s championship run, the offensive brilliance of LeBron and Anthony Davis commanded the headlines but the Lakers won with their defense. They were the best defense in the league during this regular season, despite a huge number of injuries. This team’s core identity is suffocating defense and they’ve definitely rediscovered it against the Suns.

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