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Los Angeles Lakers: Six lessons from loss to Houston Rockets

By Ronald Agers

HOUSTON, TX - JANUARY 19: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets celebrates after the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 19, 2019 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. 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 2019 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - JANUARY 19: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets celebrates after the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 19, 2019 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. 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 2019 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Meet your late game stars…”Dancing” Lance and Ivica Zubac!

Zubac does not start games, but we can get used to the notion that if he has it going, he will finish them. Before fouling out in overtime, Zubac scored 17 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.

But what made him the star of the 4th quarter was that he stepped up and knocked down key free throws down the stretch. He did not miss any of his nine free throws.

The Lakers hit all of them in the last quarter. Remember, the Los Angeles Lakers are dead last in the NBA in free throw shooting and have blown games over this issue.

Over time, we’ve seen that Zubac is the most skilled offensive big man the Lakers have. At first it could be reasoned that the Lakers were giving him time to showcase him for a possible trade. The way he is playing late,

This is all he does…

He does his job setting the pick and making himself available at the rim! When LeBron James gets back, Zubac is going to murder NBA big men with his activity and movement.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1086835132223258624

Notice who passed the ball to him? Yep! Lance Stephenson!

Lance broke out the banjo four times out of eight opportunities knocking down 4-for-8 from 3-point land. He parlayed that to a 16-point night with 4 assists. Half of his points were in crunch time to help send it into overtime! He did all of this in 25 minutes of action. Again, kudos to the coaching staff for staying with him when he was effective. Are you going to get this every night…no.

But when he is on, you have to ride out the wave.

Finally…

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