Twenty-three games into the season, by and large, the Lakers have been a fairly unimpressive defensive team. It's not necessarily a shock, given a roster that doesn't feature many plus-defenders, particularly among the players slated to log the most minutes. For the opening three quarters of contests, the Lakers often get by despite their defense, rather than through the strength of it.

However, once the fourth quarter begins, and especially in the last five minutes of games (otherwise known as "clutch time"), something pretty crazy has regularly taken place. The Lakers morph into a good defense. During clutch time, they become downright elite. The clutch time sample size (eight games) isn't massive, but it's hardly insignificant. Either way, it's very consistent and belies the opening 36 minutes of games. So what the hell is going on? How and why is this happening?

During Tuesday's Lakers practice, Locked On Lakers co-host Andy Kamenetzky asked JJ Redick and Deandre Ayton to share some thoughts, then offered some of his own.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

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