Los Angeles Lakers crash and burn vs. Cleveland…4 Lessons!

The Los Angeles Lakers are nearing rock bottom after losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night. Here are four lessons from the loss.

The Los Angeles Lakers are in a world of trouble right now. Others may tell you different and that’s okay.

I’ll just take credit for being the first one to point out that this team is about to hit rock bottom. What’s worse, if you think things are bad now, just look at your friendly neighborhood NBA schedule. It’s not going to be pretty folks.

Following an embarrassing loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday,  the Los Angeles Lakers looked even worse losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers 101-95 that was basically controlled for 48 minutes by a team that walked into the Staples Center on a 12 game losing streak.

What is it about the Lakers and these Sunday games on the schedule? I mean they play terrible almost every Sunday and this game was no different.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1084678684219297793

The Lakers came out listless and lacking energy. The bugaboo for this team that has hampered this team with and without LeBron James reared its ugly head yet again…

This team does not play hard for 48 minutes. The days of “Oh they need time to figure things out” are over. The Lakers are officially out of time if they want to make the playoffs this season. This loss puts them in a tie in the loss column with the Utah Jazz for the 8th spot in the West.

Here’s where it gets interesting…

The Lakers are 1 1/2 games back from the 11th seed in the West. You say…Well so? After the Lakers play the Bulls (Not a lock with this bunch!), they play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, the Houston Rockets on Saturday (Sidebar: Over/under on James Harden scoring 40? Leave comments below!) and the World Champion Golden State Warriors one week from Monday.

Trust me, this will not be the same team that the Lakers beat on Christmas Day. They will have DeMarcus Cousins back in the lineup. By the time the Lakers play through this murderer’s row schedule, the Lakers could be on the outside of the playoff chase looking in.

There is a lot of blame to go around and they will be directed at many like Luke Walton, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, the referees.

There will be plenty of excuses like…”The Lakers are missing LeBron James and Rajon Rondo.

Hopefully, it will be more of the former because the LeBron James excuse is getting weak.

Why?

The Lakers played seven out of their last ten games against opponents with less than .500 records. They have not taken advantage. There is no excuse for a Lakers with more talent to lose to a Cleveland Cavaliers team who basically leaned on the starting lineup only, can’t stop anyone on defense and has stopped hiding the fact they are tanking.

Let’s get to it.

Lake Show Life lessons!

The Los Angeles Lakers need shooters, badly

The Los Angeles Lakers were criticized for not having enough shooters around LeBron James to be successful this year. Let me rephrase that.

The Lakers just don’t have enough shooters…Period!

The team basically left enough bricks to build a practice facility next to the Staples Center. Hopefully, they’ll use it to practice their shooting. It may seem like I’m being tough so I will give you some numbers.

The Lakers shot less than 40 percent from the field (36-91).

They shot 20 percent from the three-point line (7-34).

Finally, from the free throw line, the Lakers shot a putrid 59 percent from the free throw line      (16-27). Here’s the rub on the free throw shooting…

In the fourth quarter, the Lakers missed nine free throws (8-17). The Lakers are at this point languishing as the worst free throw shooting team in the NBA. It’s unacceptable to the point of being sad. For a team that complains about non-calls, they sure miss a ton when they get to the line.

There is talk that LeBron James will win the MVP based on the fact that the Lakers are struggling without him. I say please stop the madness. There’s no way he is going to win.

However, LeBron James right now is the most important player in the NBA. No question. The Lakers cannot function consistently without him. The New York and Cleveland games have shown the world all it needs to see to make that point perfectly clear.

Here’s what announcers and analysts mean when they talk about LeBron James making things easier for his teammates.

Now that he is out, the floor is shrinking and the shooters do not have as much time to shoot the ball like they would if James was present. He commands so much attention that everyone is afforded about another half second to a second to shoot. Now opponents can stick to the shooters.

Remember the struggles of the Warriors without Stephen Curry? Triple that for the Lakers.

It’s that serious.

As for the free throws? No explanation.

Kyle Kuzma still needs to play basketball…not just be a scorer!

Kyle Kuzma dropped 29 points which included 18 in the 4th quarter and grabbed 9 rebounds. He was electric down the stretch scoring in bunches to cut the lead to three late. If you take a look at the box score you would think that Kuzma played out of his mind right?

Let’s check out what he said after the game.

"“No disrespect to the Cavs, but they’re still an NBA team and for us we can’t take anything lightly, especially in this league,” Kuzma said. “Because we’re all professionals and you can lose on any given night if we don’t bring the effort, and that’s what happened tonight.”"

Okay, well the Lakers have a major problem. They tend to fall behind early in games. Their defense is almost non-existent.

Kyle Kuzma is part of the issue.

There is no way that Kuzma can allow Cedi Osman to get off by scoring eight of the Cavs first 13 points in the first quarter. That led to the Cavaliers shooting 14-25 from the field in the first quarter for 56 percent. This marks the fifth time in six games the Lakers have fallen behind in the first quarter.

Look this dude is very talented. We all know he can do this.

But the Lakers need more than high-flying dunks and long 3 point shots. He has to be a playmaker setting up his teammates and providing energy on the defensive end.

This needs to be repeated. If Kyle Kuzma wants to be the second guy behind LeBron James, he has to pay better attention to detail, especially on the defensive end. The slippage on the defensive end in the early stages have a lot to do with his play.

The Lakers had better not trade Lonzo Ball!

Let’s put his father’s sins to rest Lakers fans. I get it, Lonzo did not live up to LaVar Ball’s hype (Could anyone?), but the reason why I stand by this guy is that he really cares. Ball may be the only Lakers player that will bring it on the defensive end every night. I hope that the noise and distractions surrounding this team don’t get to him. He may be getting frustrated.

Lonzo Ball scored 13 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, dished out 8 assists and swiped 2 steals.

When the Cavaliers were up 15 points in the first half, it was Lonzo providing the energy and playmaking to get the Lakers back into the game.

The Lakers can let him go if they would like but if they do, get used to a steady diet of this.

Alec Burks takes the ball away from two Lakers who did not dive on the floor for the ball and then gave up two points. This is what is killing the Lakers in LeBron’s absence.

As for Brandon Ingram.

He played well in spurts scoring 22 points with 7 rebounds and two assists. Again, just like in the Utah game, he disappeared in crucial times when the Lakers could have used him down the stretch to supplement some of Kuzma’s scoring in the 4th.

But he did catch somebody.

Man, B.I. put the dog on Tristan Thompson! He dunked on him, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Khloe and both of the Jenner sisters all at the same time! But in all seriousness, just like Kuz he has to make a decision if he wants that supposed number two spot. For this to happen, he has to play harder on both ends of the floor for the Lakers to be successful.

Finally.

Time may be getting short for Luke Walton’s tenure!

I’ve been on record criticizing Luke Walton’s offensive schemes. I have questioned his control of the team at times as well as those rotation patterns. I believe after this debacle, the Chicago Bulls game on Tuesday is going to represent how long Luke Walton stays on the Lakers bench.

He was awful.

The team is not ready to play at the beginning of this game. The half court offense is officially considered bad. There was a report that LeBron was ignoring Walton’s play calling early on in the year.

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Okay…cool. Maybe LeBron may have seen something that none of the rest of the NBA knew at the time. It is no secret to the NBA now. The way to beat the Lakers is to slow them down and get them into a halfcourt set. With Rajon Rondo out, the Lakers do not execute at all. This is on Walton and his X’s and O’s. Sorry.

With LeBron James out, it was assumed that the Lakers would struggle some, but not to the point of going completely backward. Right now, the Lakers are not prepared and Walton is not making adjustments. Sure he said there may be lineup changes on Tuesday,  but does anyone really take him seriously at this point? He’s talking in press conferences like he’s grasping for straws at this point.

As for those rotation patterns.

Michael Beasley has played extremely well for the last three games averaging 15 points a game. He played seven minutes in this game and scored 8 points.

Lance Stephenson has played sparingly over the same period and not played nearly as well.

Lance’s numbers?…Zero points. He missed all four of his shots and two free throws.

Tyson Chandler played 4 minutes total in this game and did not take a shot and did not score. But he had two rebounds and had a plus/minus total of +12.

Ivica Zubac played 11 minutes scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting and got beat up down low getting constantly posted up by Tristan Thompson. He had a plus/minus total of -2.

Get the picture?

It is common knowledge in NBA circles that Jeanie Buss is the last line of defense for Walton’s job security. A loss to the Bulls may change that. Boos rained down in the Staples Center again during this game. If the Lakers are going to make a playoff run, now may be the time to make the change before it’s too late. The team lacks spark.

The Los Angeles Lakers are at the halfway point in their long journey through the NBA season. Lake Show Life will be there every step of the way. Continue to check in for Lakers news, previews and reviews.