Los Angeles Lakers lose but still honor Kobe Bryant, 4 lessons

Lake Show Life breaks down the emotional night from the Los Angeles Lakers’ return to the court against the Portland Trail Blazers with Lake Show Life Lessons.

The Los Angeles Lakers return to the floor for the first time since the terrible tragedy on Sunday afternoon. Kobe Bryant was honored before the game. But the Los Angeles Lakers tried, God, knows they tried, but could not outlast the onslaught of Damian Lillard.

This site has covered the Los Angeles Lakers by doing these Lake Life Lessons post-game series for two years. They are blunt, they are honest and ruffle some feathers. Here’s something that possibly you didn’t know. The format is based specifically with Kobe Bryant in mind.

You see his “Detail” series that was made famous on the ESPN+ streaming services was the GREATEST basketball analyst series EVER! Period. It’s not even close. This writer owes Kobe Bryant a huge debt of gratitude. He inspired this. Not many Lakers sites (If any!) cover the games in this style.

In the beginning, this style irritated a lot of Lakers fans last year. No more than NBA fans going to Kobe for his. They called his show a curse.

Kobe had an answer to the critics courtesy of the Washington Post, via the Chicago Tribune.

"“It’s just not for them,” Bryant told the Washington Post at the time. “They have simple minds. The show is not for simple-minded people, the people that do that sort of stuff. They’ve got to grow up. We’re looking at this show from a deeper level.” “Like I said in the open, this show is not meant to entertain,” Bryant added. “I give you that disclaimer. This show is for athletes, man. It’s for people that want to be serious athletes, people that want to be serious basketball players. It’s for them. The majority of people will pick up on that, will understand it, will see areas that they can improve in and learn from, and athletes will as well, and others will just continue to be simple-minded.”"

Over time, this Lake Show Life series has been extremely successful. Kobe wanted to reach athletes, Lake Show Life wanted to reach the real Lakers fans and help them understand the process of this journey through the season. Then discuss in the comment section.

That’s why this game did not matter. On this night, Kobe Bryant, Gianna and all of the families that were affected in this tragedy mattered. Grab the tissues, you will need them.

Five days ago, Lake Show Life did an article basically begging all of Lakers Nation to stop with the constant division based on the narrative of who was better. Was it LeBron or Kobe? Does it matter now? How much time was wasted? It seems small, doesn’t it?

LeBron James was openly questioned about his motives last year coming to the Los Angeles Lakers. Lake Show Life (This writer especially!) was among the collection that made their points on the narrative.

After this week, it’s about time to let it go. All of the Lakers Nation needs to accept him because he needs your support to carry on the legacy that Kobe Bryant wants. If this speech doesn’t convince you, it’s simple, you are not a fan and want this franchise to fail plain and simple.

This was about as an emotional evening for the Los Angeles Lakers as anyone could have imagined. There was not a dry eye in the Staples Center as the tributes were done. The franchise as a whole set themselves apart from the rest of the NBA on this night.

There is no franchise in this league that is closer than the Los Angeles Lakers. Every Lakers player in the starting lineup was introduced “A 6-6 guard from Lower Merion High School in his 20th season, No. 24, Kobe Bryant.”

NBA fans, if you don’t dig the Los Angeles Lakers mess, you truly have the wrong address. It was an amazing tribute.

How those guys even came up with the fortitude to compete for 48 minutes showed guts. They tried. Man, they tried but ended up losing to the Portland Trail Blazers, 127-119. It doesn’t matter.

What mattered was that Lakers fans could unite together to mourn the loss of a Los Angeles icon and his beautiful daughter. That they could recognize the seven others who died in that helicopter crash so they would not be forgotten. Plus, it’s the first step back towards some semblance of normalcy as the team has to move on for the rest of the season.

Under the circumstances, it really seems unfair the  Lakers had to start playing basketball in the first game of a back to back against the Portland Trail Blazers. It really stinks that is ended up with a loss. But the message is for this night, it doesn’t matter. After a week we all just had, it’s just nice to have basketball back to talk about again.

Actually we could stop here. But Kobe Bryant would want this. Let’s get to Lake Show Life Lessons.

Los Angeles Lakers fans. Let Lake Show Life introduce you to the best player in the NBA right now!

It is easy to be shocked at the statement above based on all that has happened, but yes Lakers fans, Damian Lillard for right now is the best player in the NBA.

The man in a complete zone. He is unconscious. He is having an out-of-body experience. To any basketball player that has been blessed to be in a rhythm Lillard is in now, understands. This does not happen every day. Coming into the game, he was a threat. Here’s his streak for the record coming into this one.

• Last 10 games:
• Damian Lillard is averaging 36 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds. Okay, this is for a 10-game stretch, let’s lay out what he has done recently. Based on some of these performances, you might be wondering if Logo Lillard was off based on all of the emotions of the night.
• Against Golden State:
• Damian Lillard dropped 61 points on a nationally televised game on TNT. He is on a shortlist of players in NBA history that have multiple 60 point games in his career. Yep, Kobe Bryant is on that list. He also found time to have 10 rebounds and seven assists. Also, he hit a huge 3-pointer to send it into overtime.
• Against the Dallas Mavericks:
• Lillard dropped 47 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a loss. It was the only loss in this hot streak of Damian Lillard. At this point, he is basically carrying the franchise on his back. 
• Against the Indiana Pacers:
• Here’s where everything gets lost. This was the night of the tragedy. Lillard laid a 50 point whipping on the Pacers with 13 assists and six rebounds. He shot 66% from 3-point land and 60% overall from the field. 
• Against the Houston Rockets:
• Damian Lillard had never gotten a triple-double in his career coming into the game. Oh well, check that off the list. He had a 36 point, 11 assist, 10 rebound game. Was he coming back down to Earth?

Umm no. Let’s just get to the 3rd quarter. That was the story of the night.

After Lillard received a technical foul, it was over. He had the Staples Center in awe with his shooting display finishing with one rebound shy of his second triple-double in a row.

The numbers added up to 48 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds. It’s the highest scoring total in his career against the Lakers. This is what happened after he received the technical foul.

Lillard now has 40 3-point shots in the last five games, an NBA record. He is the main reason the Lakers lost this game. Nobody can stop this guy right now. The Lakers have issues with their perimeter defense, but Lillard is going on stretch not seen since well the man who was honored before the game, Kobe Bryant.

Game recognizes game. Kobe warned the NBA world when Damian Lillard went off on L.A. in the past how good he was. Damian spoke his words into existence in this game.

If Lillard wasn’t so hot in this game, it would be all about Anthony Davis. He had a monster game!

Anthony Davis has a knack for mauling opponents in the first-quarter. That trend continued, scoring 18 points in the first frame. AD rode that wave to finish the night with 37 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and five blocks.

He was the only Lakers big man to make a real impact in the game. He basically scored from everywhere and every which way.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1223465779745579010

These numbers were earned. It’s not like Portland rolled over in fear and let him dominate. Davis played a very solid game in this one.

Lillard will eventually come back down from his hot streak (They are beautiful while they last, but eventually they end!), so if Davis can start dropping 3-point shots as he did in this game, the Lakers had better get ready for a long playoff run.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1223483966549716992

He hit 3-of-5 from the land of the extra point. It seems that Frank Vogel is committed to AD shooting the 3-point shot. On this night, he was knocking them down.

The Los Angeles Lakers will be a different team with AD healthy. Portland seemingly could not get a rebound getting pushed around 61-40. Davis led the charge. He even caught a left-handed flying from the baseline on a Kyle Kuzma miss as you can see in the picture above.

This dude is so skilled, it just makes no sense. Put the Mamba Mentality in this guy, he’ll put the rest of the NBA out of business.

LeBron James didn’t have his best game, but it doesn’t matter.

LeBron James finished with 22 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. He was off. It was understandable. He lost a close friend. He missed lay-ups. Who cares? Try playing a game after the week he had.

LeBron James did something bigger before the game even started. He showed Lakers Nation that he is committed fully to carrying on the legacy of Kobe Bryant which is bringing a championship to the Los Angeles Lakers franchise.

It’s up to the Lakers fanbase to help support him. That includes Kobe’s fan base too. It is a poorly kept secret that they haven’t backed him since he showed up last year. To those fans, now you have a choice. Do you want a ring or not? Bashing LeBron James won’t help matters any.

Like AD, LeBron started the game strong in the first quarter with six points and five assists. It really looked like it was going to be his night.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1223457815261581313

But after a couple of dunks early, James tailed off. It just wasn’t his night. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that he has promised to lead this team in the right way and Lake Show Life believes he will. He competed the entire night and kept an emotionally torn up team together.

If Lillard doesn’t go nuts, this probably would have been a Lakers win.

Now let’s deal with the elephant in the room. Kyle Kuzma.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been in the news for a possible trade. Here’s why Kyle Kuzma needs to stay. 

Lakers rumors are still swirling about Kuzma being traded to the Sacramento Kings. Lake Show Life will have a complete breakdown of all of the trade rumors as soon as possible. With the Kobe Bryant tragedy, those stories had to take a back seat to what was important all week.

There are five more days until the trade deadline. If Kyle Kuzma did not show how badly he wants to stay in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform after this game, outside of washing cars or mowing lawns, there’s nothing else this kid can do.

He deserves all of the credit in the world for busting his behind on an emotionally charged night like this one. Kyle Kuzma put it on the line and played with heart, scoring 17 points and led the team with 15 rebounds. five of those rebounds were offensive, meaning the man was active on the floor.

But before Rob Pelinka makes that deal, he needs to go back a couple of decades to the history of Kobe Bryant. The first three years.

People forget he didn’t get a lot of playing time back then. Before Kobe passed he stated on the “All The Smoke” podcast that he wouldn’t have gotten time then had it not been for injuries. Press the colored words and go to 20:30 of the video. It’s a must-listen.

Lake Show Life has been on top of all of the rumors from the beginning. Now that it’s down to the last week before the trade deadline, this post-game is proof warning the Los Angeles Lakers that they will be really sorry in the end if they trade Kyle Kuzma. Book it.

Final observations:

Let’s take Damian Lillard out of the mix here. Nobody will be stopping him for the next couple of weeks. However, the defense was an issue for the Lakers. There is no way. No, let’s say that again for clarity. There is no way that Hassan Whiteside can be allowed to be as hot as Damian Lillard. No. Can’t happen.

JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard will look good in the box scores combining for 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. Here’s where they look bad.

Whiteside scored 30 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked five shots and had two assists and two steals. Here’s where it gets crazy, he shot 13-of-14 from the field. If he had a better game in his career, good luck finding it.

The Los Angeles Lakers fly to Sacramento to take on the Kings tonight night at 7:00 p.m. PST, 10:00 EST.

This loss dropped the Lakers to 36-11. It’s time to stop the losing streak at two games tomorrow. Lake Show Life will be there with post-game analysis. We leave you with a Kobe Bryant tribute.

Thank you, sir, for the inspiration.