Los Angeles Lakers: Charlotte Hornets push Lakers to limit, 4 lessons
By Ronald Agers
The Los Angeles Lakers picked things up in the second half and defeated the Charlotte Hornets. We share four lessons learned from the game.
The Los Angeles Lakers should have had a cakewalk playing the Charlotte Hornets at home right? One star played great, one didn’t for three-quarters and then led the Lakers to victory late. Lake Show Life breaks down the game with video analysis known as Lake Show Life Lessons!
The Los Angeles Lakers played a subpar game at times throughout their matchup with the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets are a subpar team that stayed close for about three quarters.
Last year, the Lakers would have found a way to fumble a game like this away and leave the floor with excuses and pointed fingers. Last year, if LeBron James would have coasted through a game like this, it was almost a guaranteed loss.
This year, the Lakers signed some players to the roster that will provide some insurance in case something like that happened this year. Then the front office traded for an All-Star like Anthony Davis that provided the full premium on the policy.
The Los Angeles Lakers allowed the Charlotte Hornets to stay in the game for about 45 seconds before the last frame before the Lakers woke up and ran them off the court for an easy 120-101 win.
That or Anthony Davis decided that he was just better than anyone on the court in a dominant way broken down at the end of the third quarter. Pay attention if you are a Hornets fan because if you didn’t watch the game and just read the box score, you probably missed how Davis woke up Charlotte and his team at the same time.
The first way was how AD woke up his team by igniting the spark that led to a 17-2 run that ended any doubt of the Lakers losing this contest.
The other way was ending the Hornets’ dreams of winning this game.
With the Lakers hanging on to an 83-80 lead with 1:02 left in the quarter, Davis put together a quick portfolio of dominance started by a slam dunk. Then he blocked Devonte’ Graham‘s shot to start the fastbreak that ended with a basket for Dwight Howard plus the foul (Howard missed the free throw, the only thing he did wrong in the game.). At the end of the sequence, the Lakers had an 87-80 lead and the Hornets chances for a comeback.
The win propels the Lakers to above .500 for the first time this season. Good right? How about this bit of information for Lakers fans to overreact to. The last time the Lakers started a season 2-1, they won the NBA title. Take that Clipper fans.
it may seem that this post game is a call for parade reservations in June, but let’s look at the issues the Lakers had last year that has not carried over to this season.
Remember when the Lakers couldn’t win a game on Sundays? How about the Lakers collecting losses against the NBA’s worst teams? Last night’s win shows progress by beating a team that is predicted to finish at the bottom of the standings and on Sundays.
Let’s get to Lake Show Life Lessons. Guess who’s the first player to step in the spotlight?