Lake Show Life
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Los Angeles Lakers Defense Goes Poof to The Magic…Three Lessons!

By Ronald Agers

ORLANDO, FL - NOVEMBER 17: Kyle Kuzma #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers handles the ball against the Orlando Magic on November 17, 2018 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Gary Bassing/NBAE via Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - NOVEMBER 17: Kyle Kuzma #0 of the Los Angeles Lakers handles the ball against the Orlando Magic on November 17, 2018 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Gary Bassing/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
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No. 2: Boy…this is an inconsistent bunch at times!

It’s going to be a roller coaster ride when it comes to Lonzo Ball. If this keeps up, he will be more polarizing than his father LaVar.

I have stated before that Lonzo Ball could easily be the next Jason Kidd. He has all of the instincts to be a great NBA point guard. The problem is that his aggressiveness wanes at times between games. Sometimes it wanes WITHIN games.

In 28 minutes, Ball had five rebounds, four assists, a block and two steals. The only problem is he scored the same amount of points as I did writing this and you did reading it.

Ball does some things defensively that the Lakers definitely need going forward…

This sequence is amazing…

First Lonzo closes out of D.J. Augustin on the wing and plays him tight and forces him to make the pass in the paint. He then rotates over to Wesley Iwundu to defend him. When the pass goes inside to Vucevic, Lonzo goes in for the steal starting the break. He hits LeBron with a pass and there’s the easy layup.

Sadly…Lonzo Ball is turning into the west coast Markelle Fultz…

The Lakers have to get scoring from the point guard position (stick around for someone who might fit the bill!). Augustin had 22 points. Ball zero. Not enough. Not even close enough. I’ll say it again, opposing point guards charter limos to get Lakers point guards to the games. They want to make sure they get their numbers!

As for Kyle Kuzma…

He did not play well in this game, scoring only eight points and turning the ball over five times. This is an easy fix…he just needs to relax. On offense, he is in such a rush to get to his moves he either bounces the ball off his leg out-of-bounds or gets an offensive foul. He’ll be okay, he just needs to slow down a bit.

Brandon Ingram had another solid performance scoring 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting with six rebounds and seven assists. Here’s the great stat of the night, he had zero turnovers. I guess we have found evidence that Luke Walton made the right decision putting Ingram in the point guard rotation. He can be a matchup nightmare…

See?

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1063950055420256257

Bottom line here is this…these three have to play well together. The debate all week long on Lake Show Life is about LeBron James playing so hard and being depended on for so much. If all three of these players play well on a consistent basis, he won’t have to.

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