The Los Angeles Lakers were able to blowout the Detroit Pistons. Here are four lessons from the win.
I’m not ready to call Kyle Kuzma the second best player on the Los Angeles Lakers yet. In my mind that is still left to be determined. But I will go on record to say that Kyle Kuzma is the straw that stirs the proverbial Lakers drink.
The last three games prove all three levels of importance of having Kyle Kuzma on the floor no matter if LeBron James is healthy or not.
The first level was shown on Sunday, with Kuzma out of thew lineup with a back contusion, the Lakers were blown out by 22 points by the Minnesota Timberwolves. To make this even more embarrassing, this is a team that seemingly fired their head coach while the players were in the shower after the game.
The second level was on Monday, after Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram get called out in the media for passion, they both played well in a comeback victory over the Dallas Mavericks…
Brandon Ingram and Lonzo had great bounce back games each, but the difference was Kyle Kuzma was back in the lineup. Did he shoot well? No. He shot a horrid 4-20 from the field for only 13 points. But it was obvious that he was out of rhythm and coming back from a sore back, I challenge anyone to come out like gangbusters. However, he was aggressive and the Mavericks had to pay attention to him that opened up lanes for Ingram to dominate…
Wednesday night was Kuzma’s turn. The Detroit game was the top-level of what Kyle Kuzma can do for this Lakers team. Kuz found his jumper and pretty much destroyed the Detroit Pistons defense in a 113-100 win. The Lakers are now on a two game win streak leading into a road game against Utah on Friday night. The Lakers are now 3-5 in games without LeBron James and probably put up their most dominating win since Christmas Day against the champs.
Ball movement was a very key component in this win as the team tallied 30 assists in the game headed up by Lonzo Ball (more on him later). What makes this exciting is that we can all see that the offensive scheme of moving the ball and staying at a high offensive pace can work. The season high total for the Lakers assists in a game is 34, so this total being tallied without the services of LeBron James and Rajon Rondo means no more excuses for the young core going into the second half of the season.
This scheme does work if everyone buys in and executes.
On a sad note, the Pistons scored 100 points so the fans did not get free tacos…sorry.
Let’s get to some Lake Show Life lessons…