Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons from win over Denver Nuggets

Here are four lessons from the Los Angeles Lakers win against the Denver Nuggets.

The Los Angeles Lakers raced to an 17-3 record to finish almost the first quarter of their season. It would mark them along with the Milwaukee Bucks as the NBA’s best team. Sadly in these NBA social media times, there has to be an asterisk or narrative to downplay a player or team’s accomplishments.

The Lakers have played a soft schedule with mostly bottom feeders to start the season. After a bad loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, the Lakers had the opportunity to silence critics about their legitimacy of being the best team in the Western Conference. There’s no time like the present as they faced the West’s second best team in the Denver Nuggets. Mike Malone made his thoughts clear before the game started.

Wasn’t it nice for the Los Angeles Lakers to walk out on the floor and make him look competent as an analyst? With questions of the level of competition that has dogged the team so far, and with half the team, most notably Anthony Davis reportedly dealing with flu-like symptoms, a road trip to Denver was what the doctor ordered.

The Lakers made a statement to the NBA and the Nuggets starting an important road stretch with an impressive 105-96 win. This post game could stop right here with stating LeBron James and Anthony Davis showed up as stars while Nuggets star Nikola Jokic played like he’d rather be somewhere else at times during the game. It’s a good thing too, because the shooting needs work.

Danny Green scored 5 points, shooting  2-of-12 from the field (1-of-7 from distance). How much are the Lakers paying this guy? Sure, the season stats show he’s the best 3 point shooter on the team but, what has he done really since the first Dallas matchup? Those Avery Bradley and Dwight Howard deals are covering up that potential overpriced contract.

A few more games like these and Kyle Kuzma will be dealing with the casual Lakers fans trade demands. Shooting 2-of-6 from the field for 6 points while collecting 3 turnovers is not going to quiet the critics.

Another game, another win. The now 18-3 Los Angeles Lakers add one game in the loss column over their chief contenders, Nuggets and the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference while leading the current two seed Los Angeles Clippers by three games.

Lets’ get to Lake Show Life Lessons!

Anthony Davis really showed heart in this game receiving an I.V. during halftime!

Anthony Davis came into the game sick. According to reports, there were numerous players on the roster that are suffering from flu-like symptoms. With Anthony Davis’ performance despite feeling so bad, most will compare it to the Michael Jordan “Flu” game.

Look it’s not even close. But when the late, great Stuart Scott can be heard, we can let him take over for a second. A special shout out on Stuart Scott day!

Anthony Davis missed the morning film session and shoot around trying to rest for the game. He didn’t play at Jordan’s level or for as high stakes, but it doesn’t take away from his performance. He couldn’t have been feeling any less lousy. At halftime, AD received an I.V. just to get through the game.

Most people suffering from the flu would gladly have what Davis had in that I.V. because he did work in the second half. AD accounted for a lot of the Lakers 24 points in the third quarter.

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The offense was great, but what he did to Nuggets center Nikola Jokic puts him on the fast track to NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. Nikola Jokic was a top 5 finisher in the MVP voting last year. No one would remember with that 13-point clunker he put together. The Joker had more turnovers (5) in the game than field goals (4).

In 37 minutes, AD scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds (3 offensive!) while playing great defense in crunch time for the Lakers to survive a tough game on the road. Frank Vogel stated after the game that he will play the wait and see approach for the Utah game.

But for this game, Michael Jordan would be impressed.

LeBron James is showing championship leadership leading the Los Angeles Lakers to this victory! 

Lake Show Life openly criticized LeBron James’ motives last year when it came to taking the Lakers to the next level. Those days are over. LeBron James sees an opportunity to win the NBA title this year and it shows. Even though the Lakers lost to Dallas on Sunday, LeBron James showed his mettle before halftime calling out players for not giving full effort.

Last year, LeBron James would have sulked. This year, the man is showing his teammates the way. Early and often.

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LeBron James knocked down his first five shots in the first frame totaling 11 points. He set the tone for the second time in as many games. Only this time, he had some help.

While his superstar counterpart was probably coughing up his lungs being sick, James put up 25 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. He even hit all six free throws! Last year, these would have been empty stats in a loss. This year, these stats show a superstar that has taken a challenge that the media (Lake Show Life included!), fans and certain players have laid out for him. When the Lakers were on the ropes up one with over two minutes left, he combined with AD to make sure the Lakers did not lose.

This happened with 1:15 left in the 4th quarter. It was the knockout blow because the Denver Nuggets were shut out for the rest of the game.

Dwight Howard is flat-out balling! He’s staking a claim for Most Improved Player!

Unless you claim not to follow the NBA at all, most everyone knows that Carmelo Anthony won the NBA Player of the Week award for his exploits last week. Does he deserve it? Sure (The writer is a Melo fan!) but he’s only done this for a week. Dwight Howard has been doing this for over a month.

What Carmelo Anthony brings to the Portland Trail Blazers is what Dwight Howard has given to the Los Angeles Lakers under similar circumstances. Howard and Melo have non-guaranteed contracts and was not wanted around the NBA.

Time to celebrate Dwight Howard folks.

Dwight Howard put up some numbers in limited playing time. In 19 minutes Howard scored 13 points, grabbed 6 rebounds (2 offensive!) and blocked 2 shots.

The word “Intimidating” was a word that was mentioned throughout the broadcast when Nikola Jokic was in the paint. The presence of AD, JaVale McGee and Howard overwhelmed Jokic at times in this game on the defensive end. The Lakers outrebounded the Nuggets 56-35.

The Lakers big man shot 5-of-8 in this game (No one knows what he was thinking shooting the 3-pointer from the right corner though!) rolling to the rim and catching lobs for dunks.

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It’s plays like these that makes LeBron James even more dangerous. Since he’s a willing passer and commands so much attention, teams are forced to pick their poison. In this game, the Nuggets kept sagging off to devastating results. Opponents have a split second to make a decision when LeBron breaks down the defense. An 18-3 record shows they select wrong a ton this season.

Lake Show Life would like to interrupt this post game report for an “Identified Flying Object” sighting!  

The NBA can keep right on sleeping on Alex Caruso. He might look like substitute teacher, but he’ll teach you some things. Dude can play. He’s the best guard coming off the bench (Hear that Frank Vogel!) and will dunk on you. HARD!

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Take a look at the man who was the only one capable of taking a rebound from Dwight Howard. Caruso only had 6 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes before he fouled out. But his energy has won over LeBron James and he deserves more minutes in the rotation.

Rajon Rondo must be noticing (Or reading these post game reports). With Alex Caruso in so much foul trouble, Rondo needed to produce and make up for his performance on Sunday. He finished the night with 11 points and 6 assists. It will be interesting to see how Caruso’s and Rondo’s minutes will be divided when Avery Bradley gets back.

The Lakers will be back in action to take on the Jazz in Utah on the second night of a back-to-back. If the Lakers can start a new win streak, it’s time to let the snide remarks about the soft schedule go. After these pair of wins, the rest of the NBA will realize what Lake Show Life has known for over a month now.

The Los Angeles Lakers are legit.