Lake Show Life
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Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons from loss to Los Angeles Clippers

By Ronald Agers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 22: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the LA Clippers controls possession of the ball in front of LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers late in the fourth quarter in a 112-102 Clipper win during the LA Clippers season home opener at Staples Center on October 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 22: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the LA Clippers controls possession of the ball in front of LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers late in the fourth quarter in a 112-102 Clipper win during the LA Clippers season home opener at Staples Center on October 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

LeBron James will make the highlight reel for major sports networks. Doesn’t mean he played well.

James had a peculiar habit early last season that Lake Show Life covered last year. It was discovered that he tends to disappear in crunch time. Last year, he put on a show in his first game against Portland with slam dunks and provided excitement throughout the arena with his play.

Then the 4th quarter started and he disappeared while Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum led the Blazers to a win. Now he has Davis in the fold with a tie game going into crunch time. The Lakers got this right?

The Clippers raced by the Lakers in the 4th by the score of 27-17. Where was James?

He scored two points and did not impose his will on the game like someone who spent two months talking about a “Revenge Season”. 

James got out of the gate fast scoring early in the first frame, but then his floor game started to deteriorate scoring only 18 points (On 7-19 shots), with 9 rebounds and 8 assists. His efficiency basically disappeared with his scoring in the second half.

Now he had highlights.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1186861129508646913

After Landry Shamet blows this layup, Davis grabs the rebound and hits James with a pass. LeBron sees Lou Williams is the only player that can stop him from getting the basket. Williams makes the business decision to move and LeBron tears the rim down. Notice the stare down at the end.

A couple of things here. Let’s deal with reality here.

Number one, James was in perfect position to receive Davis’ pass. Why? He didn’t run back on defense with his teammates. He was cherry picking.

Number two, Lou Williams led a Clippers bench that destroyed the Lakers to the tune of 60-19. Sweet Lou outscored LeBron in this game and walked out with the win.

This one will definitely make SportsCenter.

On a side note, how long has James been in the NBA? Like isn’t this his 17th year? Why is it that players continue to try layups on this guy? Landry Shamet surely watched the NBA Finals back in 2016.

The Lakers are going to find a point guard to run the offense. The second LeBron took over running the point, the offense became stagnant. Remember that pick and roll offense that was lethal in the preseason? Wasn’t anywhere to be found in this game.

The Lakers have two players on the roster that can consistently get their own shot. Those two are AD and LeBron (Kyle Kuzma maybe when he gets back). It is important for the Lakers to play with pace. Every time the Lakers made a run at the Clippers, the ball was jumping. When the Lakers got in trouble, just like at times last year, LeBron became the ball stopper. At times it looked like he and Davis were taking turns on offense shooting the ball.

But James will make the highlight reels. Everybody happy?

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