Here are three takeaways from another win for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers are playing well these days. They have won three out of their last four games, which includes three straight at the Staples Center. Wow, the Lakers are playing like a playoff team.
Oh that’s right. The Lakers are out of the playoffs, but man they are playing spoiler to other teams. During the season, teams would play the Lakers to end losing streaks. Now that the season is almost over, the Lakers are now ending teams’ playoff chances.
After coming out of the gate slowly in the first quarter, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope got hot, Rajon Rondo passed the ball well and LeBron James broke the Hornets’ spirit, all in that order.
The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 129-115 severely denting the Hornets playoff chances. After defeating the Wizards and eliminating them from the Eastern Conference playoffs, it seems the Lakers have finally found some type of motivation to play hard and the right way.
A lot has happened since the Lakers made history in Charlotte with LeBron and Lonzo Ball both collecting triple-doubles in the same game. The Lakers were on a roll and in the playoff chase. Now, the interesting storylines are more off the court than on.
The game had its subplots featuring Kemba Walker, who is one of the endless free agents the Los Angeles Lakers will be chasing in the offseason. There is one thing the Lakers have in their favor, if Kemba comes to the Lakers, at least he won’t have to deal with the constant agony of defeat every time he plays a LeBron James-led team.
In Kemba Walker’s career, he is a career 0-28. O-24 in the regular season and 0-4 in the playoffs. Well if you can’t beat LeBron, join him I always say. I’m not sure if this affected him in any way, but he was frustrated all night by the Lakers defense running bodies at him chasing him off the 3-point line.
The Los Angeles Lakers also had a dunk fest throughout the game starting with back-to-back rim rockers to start the game. The Hornets came back with a 12-0 run before the Lakers righted the ship by the end of the quarter and dominated the rest of the way. The Lakers came into the game with 512 dunks which ranks second in the NBA. They added nine more in this game to add to the collection plate.
Lakers fans need to mark this date as one of the good days during the season. It was one of the few times the roster shot 56 percent from the field, 47 percent from the land of the extra point (18-for-38) and hit their free throws somewhat.
Now with all of the good vibes and another win, the Lakers still can’t get through a game without some drama.
JaVale McGee was taken out of the game late, one rebound shy of a double-double and started barking at Luke Walton. I mean really? Let’s take a closer look at this shall we?
JaVale is not Karl Anthony Towns, who is chasing a $30 million dollar bonus if he gets All-NBA honors. The Lakers are in a meaningless game that was a blowout. This guy was a part of the Golden State Warriors, whose team is the most selfless in the NBA, you would think he knows better.
Poor Luke Walton, the man deserves a bonus for putting up with this mess without losing his mind.