Los Angeles Lakers lose twice, the game and Lonzo Ball
By Ronald Agers
Things did not go well for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. Check out our three lessons from the loss.
The Los Angeles Lakers lost a real close one to the Orlando Magic on Sunday in a game that had a lot of Lakers fans upset.
There was bad defense, 3 point shooting, free throw shooting and a ton of turnovers. Well at least the Lakers cut down on the turnovers.
At least they had a fighting chance against the Magic. The Denver Nuggets provided no such opportunity.
The Los Angeles Lakers got their lunch money taken from them, getting blown out by 32 points, 117-85, by the Nuggets.
After that big run that had the Lakers fans excited about the most promising run to open a season since 2011-12, the Lakers now have lost two straight and the bad habits that were shown in the last post-game report have extended to this effort. The Lakers were outplayed, outworked and looked like a team that was thoroughly unprepared to play.
Let me get the argument about the Lakers and their extended run addressed out-of-the-way. The wins count and that can’t be taken away. The Lakers are supposed to play the schedule the way it is laid out.
However, it does need to shown that even though the Lakers won, it was based on a soft schedule and they did get lucky in a few.
How about that Atlanta Hawks game that was basically handed to them and it still took a Tyson Chandler block in the end to win.
Remember, the Lakers looked like a team that had just won the NBA finals and not a team that is in the Zion Williamson sweepstakes!
How about that Minnesota Timberwolves game…
This is a true report. After this game, the franchise made up their mind to trade Jimmy Butler. That very next weekend, Butler was sent to Philadelphia.
Oh that Cleveland Cavaliers “Homecoming” visit to LeBron James! Cue the Kanye West music in your head for this one.
Finally, the Utah Jazz, who actually was just bad! The Lakers were bad too, but the Jazz was just awful and without Donovan Mitchell.
Now there are five different post games that covered the Lakers. The same issues that showed up last night were always there during this successful run. Against the Nuggets, the old phrase “Winning is the best deodorant” showed up glaringly against a contender, because the Lakers stunk!
Lakers drop a rough one in Denver, 117-85. Bad: LeBron James scored a season-low 14p on 5-of-15 shooting. Worse: LAL was outrebounded 60-38 (DEN had 16 offensive rebounds). Worst: The Lakers shot 5-for-35 from 3 (14.3 pct)
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 28, 2018
What’s worse is what you will see right here.
These 20 seconds changed everything. LeBron no call, Lonzo falls, 4 point play. Game Over. pic.twitter.com/vZzmHUmqix
— Raj C. (@RajChipalu) November 28, 2018
Lonzo Ball sprained his ankle and is considered day-to-day going into the game against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night. With Rajon Rondo out for an extended period of time, the Lakers will provide a lot of intrigue on who is going to play the point guard slot going forward.
This is not going to be pretty. Here are my three lessons!