Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Takeaways from loss to Philadelphia 76ers
By Ronald Agers
Kuzma lights up Philly
The Los Angeles Lakers had no chance of winning this game against a Philadelphia team that actually has a chance to beat the champs.. The game was actually close through the start of the 3rd quarter.
Why?
Kyle Kuzma. Period.
I’ve stated time and time again that some of the best trades are the ones that never happen. This applies definitely in Kuzma’s case.
After dropping 25 points in the win at Boston, he almost matched that total in the first 12 minutes of this game. He scored 23 points in the quarter, that matched the highest total for a Lakers player since Kobe Bryant finished his career scoring the same total in the last game before he retired.
Talk about “Mamba Mentality”. This is not a pun or a joke.
Kyle Kuzma has changed. For the better? Well, that remains to be seen. If he does get traded in the offseason, there will be no bullets left in the chamber. This dude is going to shoot the rock. He is not going to change his game to fit LeBron James anymore, trust me.
The Lakers have some big games coming from Kuz if he keeps knocking down 3-point shots at the rate he’s going. After knocking down five 3-points shots against the Celtics, he followed up with another five in this game. Over the last two games, Kuzma is shooting 10-for-16 from the 3-point line.
The Lakers need to set picks for Kuzma to get him to his sweet spot on the left-wing. For some reason, most of his shots early have been from the corner. Pay attention going forward to those that believe in analytics. Kyle Kuzma has more success on the left-wing than any other spot behind the line…
He even got a four point play from the same area to let the world know that he was cooking with fish grease.
Kyle Kuzma finished the game with 39 points, two shy of the 41 points he tallied against the Detroit Pistons last month. He shot 14-for-21 from the field and shot 5-for-8 from distance. I mean he actually hit his free throws too (6-for-7).
Only one problem, his defense still stinks.
Tobias Harris was scoring too. Not at the level of Kuzma’s explosion due to all the help he had, but Harris was gashing the defense with his scoring and play making. Kuzma just has to get better.
His relationship with LeBron James will be interesting story to watch going forward for the rest of the season. There was an incident in the last quarter where LeBron James passed the ball to Kuzma and it went out-of-bounds. LeBron was animated about the mistake. That might have been cool before, but let’s see what happens in the AD era meaning “After Davis”.
For the 39 points that Kuzma scored, it should have easily been a career-high. He sat for a nine minute stretch during the game (Umm….Walton? Substitution patterns here?) and while he was in playing the second frame, he did not get the ball. As hot as he was, one has to ask why?
If Kuzma continues to play like he has the last two games, he will be demanding the respect of the second guy for the Lakers.
Whether anybody likes it or not, Kuzma was not the only one who sent a limo.