Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Lessons from the loss to the Brooklyn Nets

Lonzo Ball is still the Lakers point guard and Kyle Kuzma is still the second option

As mentioned before, the Lakers faithful will be talking about what D’Angelo Russell did in this game and how he dominated Lonzo Ball. If that is said to you, I have a phrase that will quiet them real quick…

You didn’t watch the game. You watched the highlights.

If they did watch the game, they would know that Lonzo Ball played very well in this game. In fact he was the Lakers most effective three-point shooter.

Lonzo Ball scored 23 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, had 3 assists and 2 steals. He probably could have done better had he not been pulled by Luke Walton when he was hot.

Lonzo came out firing out of the gate scoring 11 points, on the strength of three 3 pointers in a row. Boy these substitution patterns. Sometimes it just makes you wonder what in the world Luke Walton is thinking sometimes.

It would be hard pressed to remember a time that Ball came out the gate shooting like he did against Brooklyn. Lonzo wanted to redeem himself after John Wall’s performance on Sunday. He knew Russell would do the same and Lonzo was up to the challenge. This was a mistake on Walton’s part. Why take out a guy that is red-hot?

Lakers fans should be happy about this bounce back game for Lonzo Ball. There in growth coming in every game he plays. Let’s put this in perspective. He has now played past his 82nd game. Think about that. He has now in a sense played a NBA season. He has improved and has shown the instincts that Magic Johnson saw when he drafted him.

Like this play right here…

People love to get caught up in stats or how the guy shoots the basketball. They don’t realize that this guy understands the game of basketball. This play here shows LeBron James in the post drawing Russell over to double team. Lonzo starts at the top at the 3-point line. When Russell turns his head, Ball cuts to the basket and LeBron James hits him with a pocket pass. Ball is all by himself for the easy dunk.

The unanswered question is what Lonzo Ball have accomplished without Luke Walton taking him out in the 1st quarter when he had it rolling!

How about Kyle Kuzma…

With all of the talk about the Lakers chasing Anthony Davis who is not coming through the door in the next couple of days, people are missing out on a star in their own franchise. Anthony Davis is in the future (maybe…) Kyle Kuzma is RIGHT NOW!

Kyle Kuzma scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and had 3 assists and a steal. Let’s throw in a major stat! He was the only Laker that did not miss a free throw. With a team that shot 56% for the game and is DEAD LAST in the league in free throw percentage, that is an achievement.

Lets’ talk about this play here…

Kyle Kuzma is basically out of the screen as you see here. Tyson Chandler grabs the offensive rebound. Kyle Kuzma cuts straight to the basket and receives the pass and dunks on the Nets franchise here.

Two things to point out here…

Number one, you see that the Lakers have a different philosophy from other teams in the NBA. Teams like to kick the ball out for 3-point shots. The Lakers on the other hand, want players cutting to the basket to attack the basket putting constant pressure on the defense.

Number two, this happened a few moments after LeBron James’ dunk attempt was denied at the basket. What I like about Kyle Kuzma is this dude is not scared. Kuz just plays ball. Give him about a year and that floater he has will be unstoppable, especially on the right side of the court.

But you ask…with all of these highlights and numbers, why did the Lakers lose?