Los Angeles Lakers: 5 lessons from win vs. San Antonio Spurs

The Los Angeles Lakers swept through the Texas two-step defeating the San Antonio Spurs on the road. Lake Show Life breaks it down with Lake Show Life Lessons!

The Los Angeles Lakers are alone at the top of the Western Conference. Dwight Howard provided the spark to get the Lakers over the top in the second half against the San Antonio Spurs to get them there.

The most overused and overrated phrase by the Lakers fanbase and the media last year was “The Lakers were 4th in the Western Conference on Christmas Day!” It turned from a fact to an embarrassing excuse for the team’s collapse.

That was the past and this team is different. The NBA got a tweet from the Los Angeles Lakers’ social media team after the first preseason beatdown of the Golden State Warriors.

The comment section for the post-game report was filled with the word “overreaction”. Other teams trolled the Lakers tweet throughout the preseason.

Well, the tweets have stopped to the Lakers and the comment section sure seems to be quiet these days. Frank Vogel is a defensive coach and the Lakers showed against the Spurs that they can stop anybody. This includes a team battling for the number one seed early in the season.

After watching the Los Angeles Lakers ride the coattails of two stars that put on performances of epic proportions the last two games, the role players stepped to the forefront in this one.

After watching Anthony Davis dominate Memphis and LeBron bully Dallas, it would have been easy for the rest of the roster to depend on these efforts every night. But, with a team that considers themselves a contender, contributions from the team’s role players are even more important. It was the role players that outlasted a personal Dejounte Murray onslaught to get out of San Antonio with a 103-96 win.

The good news was the Lakers actually went into halftime with a lead. The bad news was the sloppy offensive performance riddled with turnovers that were basically gifting the Spurs points to stay close.

Even though the Lakers raced out to a 19-point lead, turnovers continued to give the home team life before guard Murray scored 14 points in a row to tie things up at 90 in the fourth quarter. The Lakers started the game with eight turnovers in the first frame and it added up to 18 for the game. LeBron (5) and AD (6) accounted for 11 of them. Those are the stars and will have the ball the most. They have to get better.

As for the Kyle Kuzma report. He did not shoot well overall and it’s going to take time to get his rhythm. He still had time to knock down 47-foot buzzer beaters!

Enjoy, Los Angeles Lakers fans! The franchise for right now owns a five-game winning streak and a seat on the throne as conference leaders going into Tuesday’s game against a struggling Chicago Bulls team.

Now on to Lake Show Life Lessons! The most effective player on the floor might shock you. It didn’t shock Lake Show Life.