Are the Lakers a Good Defensive Team?

[Celtics Fan]

All I have to say is they are big and skilled with finesse, but however they do not have the mental toughness at all. I saw it last night against an mediocre defense. Paul Gasol didn't look to defend against Stoudemire, and I think that gave Amare a spark. And you can talk about Lamar OLD-HAM all day, he is still a garbage player who lack the mental toughness, all you have to do is give him a sharp Rick Mahorn elbow and he'll disappear. The same could be said about Paul Gasol too.

[Ed Teach]

They may have been soft in the past but Artest, even if he has lost a step, he does bring toughness. 

Artest does have playoff intensity, he wont back down to anyone.  If anything he is prone to stupid mistakes, like flagrant fouls.  He also can take some bad shots.

[Bankshot]

Mediocre in the playoffs games that I watched.

Worse than that.  They have given up an average of 113 points a game to the Suns.  I don't see how they play good defense.  They look like an awful defensive team to me.

Kobe was very upset last night about their defense. How come they weren't upset at their defense in the two games LA won? They did give up over 100 points in those games too.  Kobe is just mad now because they weren't able to score more points then the Suns.  If LA had scored 120 points and won, no one would have mentioned their poor defense.

If the Celtics had beaten the Magic with the Magic scoring over 100 points, I believe the Celtics would still be talking about their poor defense.

[lon3lytoaster]

I'd say the Lakers are an above average defensive team, they didn't win a chip without some defense. Not quite Celtics good (actually, not even close) but they have enough to get it done most games.

And it's been said, but they're still pretty soft with the exception of Artest, and Artest still doesn't scare me very much.

[Bankshot]

They are extremely soft.  Did you see 6'9" Amare torch the 7' Gasol?  And Bynum looks soft as well.  All you have to do is be rough with them and they appear to back off.