Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons from a Brooklyn sweep in China!

The Los Angeles Lakers got swept by the Brooklyn Nets in China. We take a look and share some lessons from the second game.

The Los Angeles Lakers are on their way back from China after getting swept in back to back games to the Brooklyn Nets. The Lakers kept it close in the first game. But the second game was a complete letdown as the Nets dominated for most of the game. Lake Show Life lessons may help. Or Lakers fans can only hope.

The Los Angeles Lakers were probably glad to board the plane to leave China. Most will point to the days of unfair drama caused by a tweet from Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey.

Some can point to the time changes that was probably murder on body clocks and game routines (Lakers fans on the west coast can probably attest!). Whatever the reason, based on the performance of the Lakers on Saturday against the Brooklyn Nets, it seemed the Lakers flat-out did not want to play.

The energy, passion and competitiveness were on its way to Los Angeles seemingly long before the game even started. After the first quarter, the Lakers were terrible.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost the second of back to back preseason games to the Brooklyn Nets 91-77. After playing a competitive game that came within a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 3 point make from forcing overtime, the Lakers played like this game was they were WORKING overtime.

After taking the Golden State Warriors to the woodshed in their preseason opener, hopefully, this will serve as a wakeup call to the roster and the Lakers franchise.

Having Anthony Davis and LeBron James on the same team doesn’t guarantee a deep playoff run. The Lakers have to execute and bring effort every night this season. Performances like these are unacceptable and unwarranted. Especially from a veteran-laden squad with aspirations for a NBA title.

But before the analysis starts, Lake Show Life would like to get the usual excuses out-of-the-way. They are as follows.

1. LeBron James and Anthony Davis barely played in the game.
2. It’s just a preseason game, relax.
3. The season hasn’t started yet. This game doesn’t matter.
4. They’ll figure it out. 
5. This is just hate on the Lakers.  
6. Anthony Davis got hurt.

Speaking of the Anthony Davis thumb injury, the word ligament was not the word that the Lakers and its fanbase wanted to be mentioned in the injury report. Davis injured it in the first quarter blocking a Joe Harris layup, pinning the ball to the backboard (Somewhere you can hear Charles Barkley saying, “nothing good comes out of playing defense” somewhere watching this game.).

However according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the injury is not serious, just a sprain.

The next preseason game is Monday when the Lakers run it back against the Warriors. Sure, the Lakers smoked them like a pack of KOOL cigarettes a week ago. But if the Lakers bring the lazy defensive execution and listless energy presented in this game, they will find themselves 1-3.

Let’s get to the Lake Show Life lessons.