LeBron James and the Lakers have found a new gear. How? Take a look at their defense

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – LeBron James zoomed to the right corner in front of the Los Angeles Lakers bench and aggressively closed out on the Sacramento Kings’ DeMar DeRozan.

DeRozan sized up James and tried to drive up the middle of him twice, only for James to force him away from the basket and into a spinning kick-out pass to Keegan Murray. Murray, stationed on the left wing, blew past Austin Reaves and was picked up by James, who rotated off DeRozan.

The 39-year-old forward blocked Murray’s drive, forcing him to settle for a contested midrange jumper that clinked off the rim.

On the Lakers’ next possession, Anthony Davis drew a foul and a technical foul on Domantas Sabonis, leading to three Lakers points to extend their lead to eight points. They would score five more unanswered points, using an 8-0 run to ice the game in a key 113-100 win over the Kings in Sacramento.

“As a group, I really felt like this might be my favorite win we’ve had all season,” coach JJ Redick said. “… We had so many different contributions at different times.”

Reaves led the Lakers with 25 points, Davis had 21 points, 19 rebounds, six blocks and three steals, and James had 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

With the win, the Lakers improved to 15-12 and seventh in the Western Conference. They have won three of four games and regained their footing – at least momentarily – after a worrying stretch in which they lost seven of nine games and spiraled down the standings. Los Angeles also improved to 2-0 against Sacramento this season, a surprising development after going just 1-7 against the Kings in the previous two seasons.

Over their last four games, the Lakers have the league’s best defense, allowing just 98.5 points per 100 possessions. They’ve held three of their four opponents to 100 points or fewer, a rare feat in 2024, when teams are seemingly entering 110-plus points per game.

Expecting to type of defense consistently from a soon-to-be 40-year-old who just passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most minutes played in the regular season on Thursday is unrealistic. But James’ defensive spirit — he also had a key chase-down block on Keon Ellis — was emblematic of a recent shift within the team over the past two weeks.

“Defensively, I think the No. 1 thing is everybody being accountable and holding your guy,” James said. “Understanding that (we can’t) just let blow-bys happen or whatever it may be, but also being on a leash with the other four guys on the floor. And it starts with communication. And I think we communicated at a high level in the last four games. And we will have to continue that.”

The Lakers have made subtle adjustments defensively, with players being more selective with their shifts, and the team has implemented more drop coverage in their pick-and-roll defense. Guards and wings do a better job of funneling ball handlers into Davis, who uses his special defensive abilities to wreak havoc.

“I mean, AD is special,” James said. “Don’t take those accomplishments for granted and say, ‘That’s just AD doing AD.’ No. That’s a special talent and a special player. And we needed every one of those (19) boards.”

“(AD) was phenomenal tonight,” Redick added. “And it just shows you how elite he is as a player that he can have a 7-for-20 night and still dominate a basketball game.”

Players have often pointed to improved effort, energy and communication in defense rather than any tweak. Redick has emphasized that the Lakers are a “team defense” because they don’t have the individual defenders, especially on the perimeter, that many of the league’s elite defensive teams boast. Instead, they must focus on the details, rotating and scrambling to become greater than the sum of their parts.

That mindset has finally sunk in to the group, which was ranked 26th in defensive rating before this four games.

“We play desperate — especially on the defensive end,” Davis said. “And it shows.”

After the win, Redick congratulated James (57,471 career regular-season minutes) for passing Abdul-Jabbar (57,446 minutes) as the all-time regular-season record holder in front of the locker room. James’ teammates weren’t as warm with their reception of his latest milestone.

“They told me I’m old as hell and all that,” James said as he smiled and laughed.

It wasn’t lost on him that he broke the regular season minutes mark in the same city where he played his first NBA game in 2003.

“Obviously it’s a pretty cool honor any time I’m associated with some of the greats that ever played this game,” James said. “I’ve been available to my teammates. I’ve been able to do this at a high level over two decades. And to continue to put myself in the record books in this game of basketball that I love so much and in the best league in the world, is pretty cool and it’s very humbling.”

The Lakers won’t have much time to savor their win as they face the Kings again on Saturday afternoon as part of a two-game road trip. But James, worn out from rotating and flying all over the floor, said he wanted to make the most of that downtime.

“I just set the all-time leading (mark) in minutes – I’m not thinking about this next game yet,” he said. “I’m going to get to this (hotel) room, drink some wine, play some Madden and relax.”

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(Photo of Anthony Davis and LeBron James: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)