Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James loses the ball and the game, 4 lessons

Lake Show Life breaks down the Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers in a troublesome Lake Show Life Lessons.

The Los Angeles Lakers are officially in trouble as they lost their fourth straight game to the Los Angeles Clippers on Christmas night. LeBron James lost the ball in the final seconds which is the least of his worries.

No one else will say it, so feel free for Lake Show Life to state what no Lakers fan wants to hear. The Los Angeles Lakers are in some trouble. After smartly beating down the bottom feeders of the NBA for the majority of the season, Murphy’s Law is starting to race the injury bug to bite the NBA title contenders in the butt.

Sure, the Lakers are sitting at the top of the Western Conference at 24-7, but there is one small issue. The Lakers haven’t won a game in about a week and haven’t beaten their Staples Center neighbors, LA Clippers, at all this season.

Everyone that watched this game should be thankful that this was a competitive basketball game between two title contenders on Christmas. To be honest, most of the games were bad as one team would show and the other did not. This game was exactly what the NBA needed and had to have. A showdown that went down to wire between the two L.A. teams.

This game featured two versions of Deja vu for the Lakers. The first version was how the Clippers rolled out the same scheme as opening night to slow the offense along with Frank Vogel’s inability to make adjustments. The second version was LeBron James, for the second straight Christmas game, walking out having groin issues.

One stupid foul from Danny Green and a stupid call against Anthony Davis down the stretch hurt badly, as the Lakers lost 111-106.

Patrick Beverley probably just put himself in the first team All-Defense on this play alone.

Like him or not, he gives LeBron James fits. He knocked the ball out of James’ hands that closed out any chance for the Lakers to tie the game and sent it to overtime.

Lakers fans are going to start floating the word trade around for the immediate future. Okay? So? Sure the roster showed the same flaws they’ve shown all year, and seriously need another ballhandler (Anybody given up on Rajon Rondo yet?) to ease the load on LeBron James. But the bottom line is they can’t.

Other media outlets will sugar coat this and tell you the Lakers came a lot closer to winning on Christmas than on opening night. Lake Show Life will tell you that the Clippers do not fear the Lakers. They out-executed the Lakers to the tune of a 17-5 run to end the game. The Lakers needed to win this game to send a message. It didn’t happen.

Let’s get to Lake Show Life Lessons.

Lake Show Life warned the Los Angeles Lakers about the extent of LeBron’s injury. Now things could be worse.

On the last page of the Denver Nuggets post-game report, Lake Show Life wondered if LeBron’s groin injury was worse than reported.

If you pay attention to the games, you can plainly see that the man is hurt. With all of the load management talk and the sniping back and forth between the two franchises, it was a foregone conclusion that all the stars were going to play. But at what cost?

Let’s take a listen to Chris Broussard on First Things First on his take on the game.

The bottom line, LeBron James is not himself. For the last week, he can’t drive past anyone. The explosion is gone based on the injury. It might have been one game too late, but according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN reports that some of the Lakers organization have already floated the idea of shutting it down for a while.

"Even though the Lakers are now riding a season-worst, four-game losing streak, several members of the organization already have approached James about the urgency to sit out and rehab his groin injury until he feels fully recovered, sources told ESPN."

This is not about the stats he accumulated, scoring 23 points on 9-for-24 shooting, with 10 assists and nine rebounds. It’s about the ability to be aggressive and get to the basket.

10 of the 15 misses were 3-point shots. The way he is playing now has reverted back to last year when James camped out on the wings and fired up step back shots from distance. LeBron James set a career-high with 10 misses from 3-point range.

The Lakers have a back-to-back this weekend playing the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, followed by the Dallas Mavericks at home on Sunday. LeBron James, who has brought the load management narrative back to life, had better figure something out.

The NBA season is a marathon and not a sprint. We all know the story about the tortoise and the hare. If the Clippers stay their course and win the NBA title, who’s the Mack here?

The Lakers, who made snide remarks about the Clippers dealings with Kawhi Leonard? Or the Clippers raising the Larry O’Brien trophy?

Speaking of Kawhi Leonard.

The Los Angeles Lakers can’t stop him. Kawhi Leonard knows it and the Clippers are plotting to exploit it.

For the second time this season, the Los Angeles Lakers needed their stars to be the best player(s) on the floor. For the second time this season, Kawhi Leonard was the best player on the floor. For the first two months of the season, LeBron James turned back the hands of time while Kawhi stuck to his rest program.

The media blasted him, Doris Burke called him out and LeBron took advantage by putting in his two cents on “load management”. But one thing is coming clear.

When it’s time for big games, Kawhi Leonard delivers.

https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1210228778032599041

Leonard surgically dismantled the Lakers to the tune of 35 points, 12 rebounds (three offensive!), five assists and a steal. He knocked down five 3-point shots and hit all of his free throws. He’s wildly efficient. Why are we discussing this?

LeBron James may have made a mistake going to the media about this load management issue. It could have perceived as a slight at Kawhi Leonard.

Kawhi Leonard stared Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs down and walked. Then he dealt with all of the “experts” criticizing him for sitting out games last year. When playoff time rolled around and the stakes were high, he played more minutes than any other player. Now he’s an NBA champion. Do you really think he cares what people think?

Leave the man alone, he’s taking names.

Frank Vogel made the same rotation mistakes as opening night. This time with Kyle Kuzma.

For the second straight game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Frank Vogel blew an opportunity with his rotation patterns. In the first game, Danny Green went crazy from the 3-point line to get the Lakers back in the game going into the 4th quarter. Vogel sat him down and the Lakers fell behind and eventually lost.

On Christmas Day, it was Kyle Kuzma’s turn to explode. You know what they say, film doesn’t lie.

Kuzma scored 15 points in less than half of the first quarter. That pretty much shows that the man was on fire. Just like Green in the first game, his minutes diminished. Why?

Kuzma was building on his 16 points scored against the Nuggets. Let the man ride out the hot streak. Sometimes, coaches adjust their substitution patterns for certain situations. This is one of those times.

After dropping 15 points in the first frame, there’s no reason that Kuzma finished the game with 25 points. He should have had 40. The 27 minutes he played was a joke, Kuz should have played at least 35 minutes.

If this was the version of Kuzma the Lakers need, allow him the opportunity when he has it going. Take Rajon Rondo’s minutes. Take Caruso’s minutes. Whoever’s minutes need to be sacrificed to give a hot Kuzma more shots is Vogel’s responsibility.

Will Kuzma have this type of production every night? No. But if he can come off the bench, and score in the flow of the offense like he did on Christmas while LeBron James was struggling, you create opportunities for him.

The Los Angeles Lakers need to put Kentavious Caldwell-Pope back in the starting lineup.

Has anyone noticed that the Lakers slide coincidentally started with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope going back to the bench for Avery Bradley? Has anyone noticed that Bradley has not played well since he got back in the starting lineup? Yes, Los Angeles Lakers fans, this is a mistake that needs to be corrected.

Right now, KCP has been the most consistent player outside of the stars since his slow start. Look it up. Plus, he is starting to expand his game.

Before we continue with KCP, Landry Shamet can’t catch a break. In the first game, he got his shot pinned to the glass by LeBron James. Now he gets his dunk blocked. Hey Landry, shoot the jumper, it seems to be safer.

In 29 minutes, KCP scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting (2-of-3 from 3-point land!) with two rebounds, two assists and the block you just saw. Lake Show Life has mentioned on numerous occasions that Caldwell-Pope is more effective as a starter.

Even if he wasn’t, it doesn’t hide the fact that Avery Bradley is struggling. Two points in 17 minutes are not going to cut it.

Finally, something extra on LeBron James.

For the rest of the year, this website will have debates on LeBron James on the court. This writer will break down his play whether it’s poor or outstanding. What won’t be up for debate is the type of man he is.

Corey Groves is dying and his last wish was to meet LeBron on Christmas. LeBron made time to meet him and take a picture. After losing a game and dealing with injuries, he had a lot of things going on.

For him to come out and make this young man’s day and grant him the wish of spending a few minutes is what the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers and what Christmas is all about.

Merry Christmas from Lake Show Life.