The Los Angeles Lakers started opening night against their hallway rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. Bad execution, poor energy and awful rotations late lead to an opening night loss.
The Los Angeles Lakers seem to keep this site extremely busy and reflective sometimes. Just like the Lakers fanbase, the staff would really like to see the Lakers do well. On the other hand, for credit-ability sake, the Lake Show Life has to tell the truth. So here goes.
For one moonlight night in Los Angeles, The Lakers showed why Laker Nation should be worried about the Clippers. The Los Angeles Clippers withheld a flurry from the Lakers early, but stayed the course and beat the Lakers soundly 112-102. This was done without Paul George playing.
The storyline of the NBA will be centered around the Staples Center all season. Both teams will be written in Sharpie ink as favorites for making the NBA Finals. The Clippers reminded the Lakers that the Staples Center is not located in Vegas.
The common sense narrative here is about the two stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. If this Lakers team is going to win against championship contenders, just as a general rule going forward, LeBron James and Anthony Davis will have to set the tone. Not to say that they didn’t early in this game, it just lasted about a half hour. After racing out to a 13-2 lead, Doc Rivers brought in Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. The physicality and skill set in and the Lakers never matched it.
LeBron James was sloppy offensively (more on this later) turning the ball over five times in crucial situations and Davis spent too much time on the perimeter, falling in love with fadeaway jumpers. Ivica Zubac looked like he wanted no part of the Lakers front-line in the first five minutes of the game, there’s no reason why the Lakers couldn’t use their size to beat them up down low.
It’s not all on the stars here, there were obviously other factors at play (Frank Vogel). But this season will be about LeBron or AD being able to produce in crunch time.
James and Davis combined for only two total points in the fourth quarter. When both teams are tied at 85, watching the Clippers outscore the Lakers by double digits in that final frame is not a good look.
Let’s get to the first edition of Lake Show Life lessons! It’s not going to be pretty.