Los Angeles Lakers lose the Game and a whole lot more!

1. How did LeBron James do?

It depends on what type of Los Angeles Lakers fan you are. Are you the fan that likes to win…

…or are you the type of fan that wants to be entertained and happy because you are a LeBron James fan?

Well if you are just a fan that thinks LeBron James is the best player in the world and consistently complains that the Golden State Warriors are a super team…

Here you go…

Now just like in the Portland game on Thursday night…

Let me get the other one for the casual fan…

There was excitement throughout the building! Only one problem…

THESE THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN THE FIRST QUARTER!

Here’s a couple of quotes I stated in the last couple of pieces…

Quote, Number One…

"If he is the best player on the court, the last eight minutes is when he has to impose his will and lead his team to victory. He has to be as dominant or more so at THIS time in the game. This game was winnable but a scenario that Lakers fans need to watch throughout the season occurred. LeBron James played well enough to fill stat sheets, but not well enough to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to victory."

He did it again last night. With the game on the line, LeBron James again came up short. The Houston Rockets handed the ball to James Harden and let him be the MVP of the league and go win the game. Harden especially showed what superstars do with the game on the line.

This WAS ESPECIALLY evident after Chris Paul was ejected. Harden took over knocked down a three over great Lonzo Ball defense…drove to the basket and hit a layup to ice the game.

He even found time to do this…

But Lakers fans, even in that fracas that happened, and let’s be clear here, Rajon Rondo was wrong and Brandon Ingram was just plain stupid…BUT! This can’t happen if you are the leader of the Lakers…

You go support your teammates! Not the opponent. To all the real ballplayers out there, how many times have you gotten into it in the heat of the battle only to forget about it when the game is over? James should have been over to Brandon Ingram! NOT CHRIS PAUL! Where does this guy’s allegiance lie? Where is his competitive drive to win?!!

When you see these back and forth debates on social media most of them are ridiculous because it is all about the eras, but I do know this…

Larry Bird wouldn’t do this…

Magic Johnson wouldn’t do this…

Michael Jordan wouldn’t do this…

Kobe Bryant?…PFFT! Please!

Any Lakers fan worth a grain of salt has seen Shaq do his thing in a scuffle!

After this incident, James was not heard from again in the game. Defensive breakdowns, not rim protection, (Harden’s last layup was because LeBron didn’t rotate to protect the basket) or playing the 3-point line.

Quote, Number two…

"If you did not get a chance to watch the highlights of the Warriors and Jazz last night, the Jazz came out like gangbusters and ran 81 points on the champs…81! But in the second half, Golden State started executing down the stretch and the STARS, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, led them to victory 124-123. Before we go into this KD, Steph superteam stuff, don’t miss the point. They did what stars are supposed to do. Just like Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum did for Portland on Thursday night. The Lakers NEED LeBron James to take on this mentality. When the game is on the line and close, he needs to take over and make plays. He needs to be aggressive! On Thursday he was passive and did not do what stars are supposed to do to close out games. Thursday’s game was winnable. LeBron did not take advantage."

This is the second winnable game that has gone by the waste side for the Los Angeles Lakers. This is the second time that no one has found LeBron James doing anything of mention in the last ten minutes of games.

Superstars close games. Who’s the closer for the Los Angeles Lakers? They paid LeBron James $154 million dollars to do it. Where’s the production? Stat sheets don’t win games. Leadership and coming through in the clutch does. LeBron James did neither!