Lakers highlights and skills | Three elite plays vs Pelicans (1.15.21)

Skills scientist, movement expert, and youth basketball coach Dr. Raj, DPT dissects Lakers highlights and skills - through the lens of biomechanics, movement analysis, basketball techniques, and the mental side of the game - highlighting three elite plays from the Lakers vs New Orleans Pelicans game on 1.15.21 | Lakers highlights and skills | Three elite plays vs Pelicans (1.15.21) | Lakers skills analysis

For reference, I’m a DPT (Doctor of Physio), sports scientist, youth basketball coach, researcher, mindfulness enthusiast and owner of 3CB Performance —providing sports medicine, performance, and mindfulness services online and in-person at clinics in West LA and Valencia, CA.

Feel free to hit me with questions and/or you can always find me on my website or follow on social media:

Here’s a table of contents:
- 0:00 The set up
- 0:18 Schröder shows off his D
- 1:08 Kuzma’s lateral hop jumper mechanics
- 1:49 Anthony Davis’ footwork & hip swivel
- 2:26 Outro

Script:

Welcome, it’s Raj from 3CB.

The Lakers dismantled the Pelicans 112-95 on Friday night, continuing their current run of dominance. In this video, I broke down three elite plays and skills that stood out to me through the lense of biomechanics, technique, and mental ability.

The first play is Dennis Schroder showing off some elite defensive skills. He picks up full court, dropping his hips and torso to lower his center of mass to improve balance and change of direction ability while using cross-over steps to quickly react and move laterally. As the opponent picks up his dribble, Dennis gets in tight and anticipates the pass.  Look how low he is here, which allows him to take a direct line to the level of the ball. Cookies.

And he did it again on literally the next possession. Great D.

The second play highlights superb shooting technique and mechanics from Kuz.  He calls for the pass from Bron and goes into his lateral side hop as the ball is in the air, timing it with his gather. The hop not only creates rhythm and balance but also note how he lands on the balls of his feet which creates elastic energy to spring up quickly.  Everything is working in conjunction on his upwards motion and he releases the ball as he’s coming to the apex of his jump. Bottoms. These are some of the cleanest mechanics I’ve seen from Kuz and a testament to his ability to learn, modify, and adapt his shot. It’s truly a learning process.

Last but certainly not least is AD’s defensive footwork and elite hip swivel.  Zion attacks with a nice inside-out dribble but AD takes small, chopped steps to change direction, opens up his entire left hip to swing his right leg through and fluidly transition into his jump to pin the ball. Here’s the reverse angle, no one else in the league can make this play.

[cbperformance]

If you appreciate the videos, depth, & narrative-free analysis, please take a second to thumbs up, sub, & share. I appreciate your time watching and feel free to hit me with questions and/or comments.