Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Lessons from win over Oklahoma City Thunder

Here are three lessons from the win against the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Over the last week, the Los Angeles Lakers have continued their dominance sitting at the top of the NBA after yet another win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers currently are on a five-game winning streak, to run their record to 12-2. What gets lost in the two extended streaks is their tendency to let less talented teams stick around longer than they should. That was definitely the case on Tuesday night against OKC.

The Lakers were never in any real danger of losing control of the game to the Thunder, but turnovers and silly mistakes kept the Lakers from pulling away. Last season, the Lake Show  used these bad habits to fall in a hole. This year, it’s not the case. This season is different. Check out the differences.

• Anthony Davis can get his own shot at any time with the game on the line with the ability to knock down free throws.
• LeBron James looks like he is engaged and focused again. Now that he is happy, he is motivated to play both ends of the court instead of preparing for Ice Cube’s Big 3, where only playing half court is mandatory.
• Most importantly, the Lakers seem to find players off the bench to knock down huge shots late in games. Guess who’s turn it was on Tuesday night to put the game out of reach.

This is turning into one of the bigger storylines of the Lakers season so far. Ever since KCP injured his ankle against the Golden State Warriors, he has played lights out (For him at least!) since he was inserted in the starting lineup replacing Avery Bradley. This was a guy that scored one more point in the two games than the Lake Show Life staff. This was a guy that LeBron James had to talk to after the second game to keep his spirits up.

This is a guy that Dwight Howard and Alex Caruso defended on social media against the Lakers fans (The fans did have a point!) asking for their support of KCP. Notice in the video how Howard had his hand up against his ear listening to the cheers. Check out the bench coming out to give secret handshakes that seemingly each player has.

Finally, Caldwell-Pope has joined the party and started contributing. After allowing the Oklahoma City Thunder to hang around until around the minute mark, KCP knocked down the dagger from almost the same spot as he did in the Sacramento game to finish off the 112-107 win for the Lakers.

The story that will gain the most attention for the next few days will be the right eye of Kyle Kuzma. After working so hard to get his rhythm back from the stress reaction injury, you have to feel for the guy. He was really starting to cook from the 3 point line after struggling his first 3 to 4 games.

In the second quarter, Thunder guard/forward, Darius Bazley scratched Kuzma in the eye with his finger trying to come through with a euro step. Kuzma left the court shortly afterward bleeding from his eye. In the second half, Kuzma sat on the bench, but his eye was half-shut.

His mom was watching the game and sent out a request to Lakers legend James Worthy.

https://twitter.com/KarriKuzma/status/1197019594084495360

Kuzma entered Tuesday night shooting close 47% from deep over the last five games and he was really close to fitting into the role of being the third scorer for the Lakers. Get better Kuz.

Let’s get into some Lake Show Life Lessons!