Lake Show Life
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Los Angeles Lakers lose opening game to Houston Rockets, 5 Lessons

By Ronald Agers

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 04: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Houston Rockets goes for the rebound against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first quarter in Game One of the Western Conference Second Round during the 2020 NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on September 04, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 04: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Houston Rockets goes for the rebound against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first quarter in Game One of the Western Conference Second Round during the 2020 NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on September 04, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

The Los Angeles Lakers guards were bad! Alex Caruso? Got into foul trouble!

Going into the series, the general conversation among our regular readers was concerning Harden and the Rockets possibly catching fire from behind the 3-point line. That wasn’t the case on Friday.

The Rockets shot 35.9% in 3 pointers on 39 attempts. Trust, Mike D’Antoni is not happy with that number. He wants 50 shots from behind the arc. Why was the number so low? The Lakers guards cannot stay in front of the Rockets guards and that includes Austin Rivers.

The other problem is that the Lakers guards all reminded the NBA world, they can’t shoot 3 point shots.  Shooting 28.9% on 38 attempts as a team is a recipe for disaster if Anthony Davis wants to shoot 15-17 footers all night.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope:

In 28 minutes, KCP scored 5 points on 2-8 shooting (1-5 from distance!) with 3 rebounds and a steal. This is not good and if the starting Rockets guards combination can score a combined 83 points, why is he starting again? Don’t worry he wasn’t the worst backcourt starter.

Danny Green:

This really wouldn’t be so bad if Green hadn’t literally called out some Lakers fans for cyberbullying and dis-inviting them to the championship parade this week. Green ended up with 10 points on 4-12 shooting (2-7 from the 3 point line!) with 2 rebounds. What’s worse? He scored 5 points early in the game hitting his first two shots. The defense? Let’s put it this way. Close your eyes. What do you see? Nothing? Moving on!

Alex Caruso:

Alex Caruso was on his way to a good scoring night. When he received this pass in the corner, Caruso was on his way to “Cash Money” with 7 points early. 

Then he took a bad foul stopping a Houston fast break that saddled him with his 3rd foul and he was done for the first half. He never could shake foul trouble after that. He only played 16 minutes tallying 14 points with 4 assists and a couple of offensive rebounds. He has got to stay out of foul trouble. He was the only guard that wasn’t embarrassed on the court.

Rajon Rondo:

Before the Danny Green bad play debates started carrying the conversation (Literally!) on this website, the spotlight before the NBA shutdown was specifically on Rajon Rondo. Lake Show Life basically predicted that if Rondo averaged over 20 minutes in the playoffs, the Lakers wouldn’t make it past the second round.

Well, Rajon Rondo played 25 minutes, scoring 8 points (On 3-9 shooting!), grabbing 3 rebounds while handing out 4 assists to the Lakers and 4 turnovers to the Rockets. His plus/minus was a -10. 

Look, this is a case where Lake Show Life prays this prediction is wrong (Folks, the draft coverage is much more boring than covering the Finals!), but it’s not a good look when  defenders literally run AWAY from Rondo when he shoots. Just saying!

Dion Waiters only got 5 minutes on the floor and J.R. Smith looks like he will be modeling Lakers warm-up gear for awhile.

The final lesson is about the coaching staff. Oh they have to be discussed too. 

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