The Lakers, the league's best defense since Jan. 15, will have to rely more on that end of the floor to generate transition offense.

Luka is still relatively new to the team, as is this stretch of outstanding defense. Head coach JJ Redick has done a remarkable job of steering the Lakers ship through such changing waters this year, but if there's one constant that he's had since Day 1, it's LeBron James.

A switch was flipped for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in mid-January. After two games were postponed due to the L.A. wildfires, the Lakers came back to action and were smoked by the San Antonio Spurs by 24 points on Jan.