Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons (FLAWS!) in loss to the Toronto Raptors

The Los Angeles Lakers showed some flaws against the Toronto Raptors.

The Los Angeles Lakers had a chance to officially grab the number one seed in the Western Conference playoffs (Also read: Eliminate mathematical narrative) with a win over the Toronto Raptors. Lake Show Life breaks down the game in Lake Show Life Lessons with video analysis!

Breaking News to Lake Show Life!!! The Los Angeles Lakers miss Avery Bradley badly! It’s not up for discussion because there is not a guard on the roster that can stop both opposing guards at the same time! 

On Thursday, when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 103-101, it was irritating how many narratives the sports media tried to sell to Lakers fans. Sure, the Lakers won and have virtually locked up the number one seed in the Western Conference playoffs, but readers got into the comment section pointing out problems.

Here’s what the media will beat into LeBron James and the NBA casuals heads.

• The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Clippers (Omitting the fact that Montrezl Harrell [Death in the family] and Lemon Pepper Lou Williams [Got some chicken but didn’t stay long] did not play).
• LeBron James hit the game-winning shot on one end.
• Then locked up Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to secure the win. 

Here’s what the Lake Show Life readers saw.

• Anthony Davis disappeared in the 4th quarter.
• LeBron James could be coasting along with his legs getting weary because of age.
• Another reader showed disappointment because the game was so close with the Clippers playing without their two best bench players.
• LeBron James flat out did not play well until late! 

Here’s what is scary here. The Los Angeles Clippers might have gotten more out of the loss than the Lakers did getting the win. Why? Because both teams did not play well, but one team made adjustments.

While the Clippers jumped all over Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans and beat the brakes off of them in a 126-103 beat down earlier in the day, the Lakers got jumped on by the Toronto Raptors losing 107-92.

Seemingly the Los Angeles Lakers can’t beat Toronto. This is the 11th straight loss dating back to 2014! If Lakers fans want to see the fluffy side of this Lakers post-game, here you go. Enjoy.

The rest of this post-game report is a warning to Los Angeles Lakers fans that really care. This team is flawed. Forget the 50-15 record. Sure, this is the number one team in the conference, but this is not the best team. Remember these facts.

• Most of this was done before March 11th.
• This was when Avery Bradley was in the lineup.
• The home-court advantage is now gone.
• The Lakers still struggle with opposing athletic wing players.
• Frank Vogel’s rotation adjustments will kill the Lakers’ chances if he doesn’t get it together. 

This was not a defensive slug-fest as some Lakers media will lead you to believe. The Lakers got beat on Saturday night by a Toronto Raptors teams that was tougher, more physical and ready to play than the Lakers. Their franchise player Kyle Lowry wouldn’t let them lose. The Lakers’ franchise player, well…not so much.

One of the lessons (FLAWS!) will be why Kyle Kuzma had to guard Lowry in the first place. That was probably the best contest all night long!

For the second consecutive game of this season restart, the Lakers couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean neck-deep in the Atlantic. Anthony Davis wasn’t around to bail the team out of this one. The Lakers shot a season-low in field-goal percentage (35.4%) for the second game in a row.

Against the Raptors defense, their offense was stagnant with a whole lot of ball pounding from LeBron James. The motion offense that was supposed to be implemented has been replaced by LeBron holding the ball and passing to areas where the shooters are for the most part throwing up bricks. The game started with the Lakers down 13-0.

It was not all bad in this game for the Lake Show. A special Lake Show Life shout out has to go to the Lakers’ bench. Their performance kept this game from being an embarrassing blow out.

The bench, led by Kyle Kuzma (More on him later!), outscored the Raptors’ reserves 50-15. This bench explosion might lead to some promotions to the starting lineup. The starters were not prepared to go up against a Toronto team with an engaged defense on a level that is normal in the playoffs that will start in two weeks.

Normally, Lake Show Life starts the lessons with the stars. But this one will start with a player that has been under-performing all year long.