Spencer Dinwiddie reacts to having best defensive rating on Lakers since All-Star break

Los Angeles Lakers guard Spencer Dinwiddie reacted on Instagram to the fact that he has the top defensive rating on the team (at least seven games played) ever since the All-Star break came to an end and credited his former teammate in Dorian Finney-Smith.

Dinwiddie played alongside Finney-Smith on both the Brooklyn Nets and Dallas Mavericks. They were both dealt from the Mavericks to the Nets ahead of the 2023 NBA trade deadline as part of the deal that helped Dallas land star point guard Kyrie Irving.

Finney-Smith, who averages 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks per game for his NBA career, is regarded as one of the more formidable defenders at the wing position in the league.

While Dinwiddie is leading the way for the Lakers in defensive rating among Lakers players that have played in at least seven games since the All-Star break, the team hasn’t been playing well on the defensive side of the ball from a collective standpoint lately. Since the start of the month of March, Los Angeles ranks 24th in the league in defensive rating (116.1) and 24th in opponent points in the paint per game (52.2).

Dinwiddie also has struggled to find his rhythm from a scoring standpoint since signing with the iconic franchise in February. He is averaging 5.0 points on just 35.6 percent shooting from the field in 16 games played with the Lakers thus far during the 2023-24 regular season.

But he did shoot the ball accurately from deep in the Lakers’ most recent game against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 22. He converted half of his six attempts from 3-point range and finished with 11 points, two assists and one block.

The Lakers and Dinwiddie will have a shot at extending their current winning streak to three games when they take on the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night. The Pacers have earned victories in their two most recent games, which came against the Detroit Pistons and Golden State Warriors.

Los Angeles will take on another one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference in the Milwaukee Bucks two days after its matchup against the Pacers.