Western Notes: Lakers, Vassell, Thompson, Malone

The Lakers are near the bottom of the league in defensive field goal percentage, with opponents shooting 48.5% against them. They know they need to improve their defense and rebounding to be a real contender. The Lakers will face Phoenix in an NBA Cup match on Tuesday.

“Our personnel, you know, if we’re honest with ourselves, they’re not the best defensively.” Austin Reaves said Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. “Obviously we have AD (Anthony Davis). That obscures a lot. But we have to be physically active on the sidelines and especially when boxing out. We have to be a better defensive and rebounding team.”

We have more news about the Western Conference:

• The Spurs officially listed Devin Vassell (Left knee bruise) is out for Tuesday at Utah, according to Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). That’s not a cause for concern as he’s expected to return on Wednesday against the Lakers. Vassell hasn’t played since November 15th.
• outsider guard Klay Thompson missed his first game of the season on Monday due to plantar fascia in his left foot, tweets ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. Thompson is averaging 13.2 points per game in 17 starts for Dallas this season. Without Thompson and Luka Doncicthe Mavs still defeated Atlanta 129-119.
• Michael Malone passed Doug Moe as the most successful coach in the world Nuggets He made history with his 433rd regular-season win on Saturday as his team defeated the Lakers. According to Bennett Durando of the Denver Post, Malone reached that win total in 56 fewer games than Moe.