The Los Angeles Lakers made it two straight wins after beating the Washington Wizards. Here are some takeaways from the game.
The Los Angeles Lakers are already officially eliminated from the playoffs, losing to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. Now that the playoffs are not an option, they made sure they punched another team’s ticket to the lottery in the Washington Wizards. This game will go down as a mixed bag to Lakers fans for a variety of reasons.
Number one, the Lakers won two games in a row for the first time since January, winning 124-106 in a game that was totally dominated by the Lakers.
Number two, now there is indisputable evidence that the Los Angeles Lakers should be in the playoffs. There will be the “injuries” excuse and criticisms of how the roster was created by the front office.
This game showed the missed opportunities throughout the season losing to bad teams due to lack of effort and execution. Maybe the Lakers wouldn’t have beaten the top teams in the NBA, but they sure could have beaten the bad ones.
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Remember, the Washington Wizards were one of those bad losses. In one of the worst games LeBron James played during the season, John Wall played his best dropping 40 points in a Sunday afternoon blowout.
Lakers fans remember that was the “Lonzo revenge game” featuring that hard foul heard around the NBA.
What was disheartening about this loss was it was less than 24 hours after LeBron James and Lonzo Ball made history, both collecting triple-doubles against the Charlotte Hornets. In my opinion, the Lakers offense was hitting on all cylinders.
This game had the same fluidity and feel. The Wizards were dominated in this game and had it not been for Bradley Beal carrying the offensive load scoring 32 points, the Lakers would have had this game sewn up by the middle of the second quarter.
It’s very easy to see why Lakers fans constantly ask for the Lakers to make a move to get Beal. He is an extraordinary talent that would definitely bail the front office out for next year. On the other hand, that same talent will probably keep him in D.C. next year.
The Lakers offense won this game by moving the basketball and with constant player movement. The Lakers average 24 assists per game this season. In the first half alone, the Lakers had 19 assists on 20 made baskets. The team carried the momentum to 37 assists for the game. The 52 rebounds that were corralled by the Lakers started the fast break that took the spirit away from the Wizards.
It was also good not to see another former player dropped by the Lakers come back and haunt the team. Thomas Bryant had a quiet game scoring only seven points.
Enough analysis. Both teams are not going to the playoffs and the Lakers are not going to get Zion Williamson with winning streaks.
Let’s have some fun instead.