After a tough night at home against the Golden State Warriors, here are four takeaways from the loss for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Let’s just take a look back to Christmas Day for a moment! Close your eyes. Family, food, presents and a full day of NBA basketball. The Los Angeles Lakers were on primetime on ABC and ESPN to play the game of the day against the champs! LeBron James had the team going in the right direction. Rajon Rondo had just come back from a broken hand. The young core of Kuzma, Ingram and Ball was getting comfortable in their roles. Sure there were issues with the coaching, but the Lakers were in the middle of the pack in the playoff chase.
The game was great for Lakers fans as the Lakers rolled into the Oracle and destroyed the World Champion Golden State Warriors by 26 points. It wasn’t close and the Lakers looked like conference contenders. This was a total embarrassment and a message to champs and especially Kevin Durant from LeBron about trash talking to alleged “Fanboys” about toxic environments.
No one knew that the entire season would change after this game either.
LeBron James went down with what was said at the time a “groin strain” a day-to-day injury that has gone on until this writing. There still is no timetable to when he will be back.
Rajon Rondo tore a ligament in a finger and had to have surgery and he’s been on the shelf since, Since then the Lakers have been under .500 and have been playing catch up ever since.
Then the crippling blow happened…the loss of Lonzo Ball with a severe ankle injury for 4-6 weeks against Houston.
The Los Angeles Lakers came into the game short-handed and played like it, getting run out of the Staples Center 130-111 in a game that wasn’t even that close. The Lakers stayed close for most of the opening quarter and were behind only ten points at the half.
Then the champs showed who they were and why.
The Golden State Warriors slapped a 45-point quarter on the Lakers led by Klay Thompson (More on this dude in a moment!) who scored 23 points in the quarter alone. After he put on a show that had the crowd buzzing, he disappeared with the rest of the starting lineup outside of DeMarcus Cousins in the 4th quarter to rest. The game was over at that point with a 110-80 lead.
Normally people familiar with these postgame reports would expect an explosion on the Lakers lack of effort and Luke Walton’s rotation patterns…
Wrong.
If you really thought this bunch was going to beat a motivated, focused, two-time champion who are on a mission to get Boogie Cousins acclimated, there are some nice statues in front of Staples Center that I can sell you for 25,000 dollars. Get them while they last.
Bottom line…the Los Angeles Lakers have to get Rajon Rondo, LeBron James and Lonzo Ball back in the lineup. Period. ASAP!
The only thing that went wrong for the Warriors in this game was the dust up between Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr and Jordan Bell. Think about this, they’re arguing and they are up 25 points.
The only thing of excitement was the argument in the TNT studios at halftime about Klay Thompson’s pecking order among the Warriors best players.
Let’s see where he was in this game…
Klay Thompson dominates
The Los Angeles Lakers basically had to hope to make the game ugly and hope none of the Warriors big three got off…
Umm…oh well! One did!
Klay Thompson went nuclear combustible leading everyone in the building scoring 44 points while putting the Lakers away by himself in the 3rd quarter. At least he called off the dogs and sat out the last quarter because he could have easily gotten 50!
Klay Thompson set a NBA record knocking down his first ten 3 point shots.
He passed LeBron James and Steve Nash on the NBA’s all-time 3 point list!
His 90.9 percentage rate was tied for the highest in NBA history for a minimum of ten attempts!
This is what was completely ridiculous. Klay shot 10-for-11 from the land of the extra point and 17-20 from the field overall. The Lakers really have nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing could be done that you couldn’t be arrested for to stop the man on this night!
What Luke Walton is trying to implement to the Lakers offense was on display by the Warriors last night. The Warriors know their motion offense to a near science (41 assists will win a lot of games) and they adjust to what is working …
"“We kind of sold out to look for Klay, to be honest,” Kevin Durant said. “When you’re knocking shots down like that, you have to continue to feed him until he goes cold and tonight I didn’t see that in sight.”"
Seven 3 points shots by Klay Thompson opened up the flood gates in the third quarter and the Warriors offense could not be stopped…
"“I’ve never hit 10 3s in a row in a game. That’s hard to do,” Thompson said. “I just happened to be on tonight and I’m happy I was able to do it in front of my family.”"
Oh well…if you are Lakers fan…moving on!
Ivica Zubac can no longer be the third center off the bench
I was not a fan of the benching of JaVale McGee a few games back. But if Luke Walton wants to keep McGee coming off the bench, he has to start Ivica Zubac. There is no other option here.
Tyson Chandler is not a starting center at this stage of his career. This is in no way a slight on Tyson Chandler because if he’s not on the roster, we are talking possible lottery and a run for the Zion Williamson sweepstakes. But he is a back up center at this point. Plus, if the Lakers keep this up, his back will be out by the end of the year.
It is important to remember the JaVale McGee had pneumonia a few weeks back and it was going to take time for him to get his conditioning back. We are talking about human health folks.
But what was found with this situation is the Lakers only consistent post up scoring option is Zubac. He has the best foot work and always finds himself in the right position when Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram drives to the basket.
In 21 minutes, Ivica Zubac led the Lakers in scoring with 21 points on 7-8 shooting and four free throws. The man is playing wildly efficient right now. The NBA is all over what James Harden is doing scoring wise. They need to start taking a look at what Zubac is doing. He doesn’t dance around the court and step back with 3 pointers, but he has supersized his abilities and responsibilities on the court.
Watch my smoke…when LeBron James and Rajon Rondo get back, you will see what I’m talking about. These two are willing passers and LeBron James basically got him out of the 12th man role.
Lakers fans talk about the development (or lack thereof depending on who!) of Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma…
Time to add this dude to the conversation and make him a priority. The way he is playing the Lakers front office have to consider his future. They have to make a qualifying offer in the offseason.
Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram both need LeBron James in the lineup
Believe it or not, there were Lakers fans that were trying to sneak the narrative that the Lakers could survive without LeBron James…
Right…okay. Security!!!!
The ongoing debate (Which by the way is dumb!) of who is the number two guy is or who needs to be traded for a big time free agent needs to cease. NOW!
What gets lost by a lot of fans is the fact that the Lakers played a very soft schedule in the beginning of the season. Teams that are tanking, in transition or have less talent.
Against these teams, these two can really shine. Now the Lakers have to play the big boys. It doesn’t stop with the Warriors.
Let’s look at a couple of points…
Number one…Brandon Ingram is not a point guard. Let’s let that go!
This is not to say that Ingram did not try, because he did. But the man does not have the instincts of Ball, James and Rondo. Simple. He’s just wired different. He is a guy that makes moves in the flow that he sees.
Brandon Ingram scored 17 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and had 3 assists. The Lakers point guards have to get at least 8 assists before we can start talking about effective point guard play. Lonzo Ball had 11 assists in the first half before he got hurt. If Ingram wants the point guard position, the balance has to be better going forward.
Kyle Kuzma still has a way to go before being a legit number two guy on this team.
Kuzma regressed big time against the champs. He scored 16 on a team-high 18 shots. But that is not the problem. He didn’t take the bull by the horns and play with the energy needed to help the Lakers last night. He was just another player.
At this point, Kuzma is considered the guy after LeBron James. Well, LeBron James is out right now so that makes him the main guy. Every NBA player has off nights, but Kuzma did nothing of real substance that the main guy does in these situations.
Where was the challenge of trying to stop Klay Thompson? That’s something he needed to take personal and step up and accept the job of trying to slow him down. Is it fair for a young guy like Kuzma? No. But it’s what he signed up for when he became a name attached to the Lakers when have gave Detroit 40.
Good teams are going to challenge these two going forward and they will have the targets on their backs until LeBron James comes back to take the heat off.
Now they have to accept the challenge.
Here’s how a team shoots 50% from the field and gets killed…
The Los Angeles Lakers shot very well from the field. They hit half of their shots.
Umm…okay?
The Los Angeles Lakers also shot a putrid 5-for-20 from the 3-point line, for 25 percent. The free throw line? Well the Lakers are back missing 16 free throws for 57 percent.
This can’t happen with good teams. The Lakers do not score well enough to miss that many free throws and expect to win. To make a comparison, the team shot 19-for-21 against the Thunder and they won the game. Against the Rockets, the Lakers hit 15 free throws straight in crunch time to help send it into overtime.
The team’s shooters, Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope combined to shoot 0-for-7 from the 3 point line. Things went downhill from there.
On the injury front…
Rajon Rondo and LeBron James did practice on Sunday. Rondo had contact in practice while LeBron James did not. Rondo is considered for a return on Thursday against Minnesota, but stay tuned for future updates.
As for LeBron James…
No clue. Day-to-day. It has been reported that he will be back soon, but at this point…who knows?
Some shout outs…
Michael Beasley played his behind off scoring 15 points (7-for-8 from the field) grabbing 5 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists. Beasley may have made national news coming out with the wrong shorts on last week, but make no mistake…Beasley gets buckets!
Luke Walton’s father, Bill accepted an award in Memphis with Chris Bosh, Wayne Embry and Ms. Candace Parker as the 14th annual national Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award winner. Congratulations to the Walton family.
Finally to the man this day is all about…
Martin Luther King, a man who made change in this nation by promoting non violence. A great man that we all need to show thanks by doing our part in keeping Dr. King’s dream alive.
R.I.P. sir and thank you for your service that has transcended generations.
The Los Angeles Lakers are now past 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.