Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron and Rajon Rondo beat Houston, 5 Lessons

LeBron James and Rajon Rondo led the Los Angeles Lakers to victory.

The Los Angeles Lakers gained the upper hand on Tuesday night taking a 2-1 lead with a shocking 4th quarter surge over the Houston Rockets. The shock in this game wasn’t that LeBron James dominated the game, but who led the Lakers to finish the game! Lake Show Life breaks down Game 3 with Lake Show Life Lessons! The only Los Angeles Lakers post game report with video analysis!

Stop if you’ve seen this Los Angeles Lakers movie recently. After playing a listless first game of a playoff series, the Lakers take a look at each other and go…“Oh, that’s all you have?” and run through the next two games with a real chance for a “Gentlemen’s Sweep”.

After allowing the Portland Trail Blazers to exhaust all of their options before being dismissed, the same scenario playing out before the NBA world after the Lakers’ grabbed the series lead with a 112-102 win over the Houston Rockets in Game 3 on Tuesday night.

A strong message from Lake Show Life: The game was not even that close. The Houston Rockets offense was stopped just as cold as the Blazers hot streak in the previous series.

This game has the year 2020 written all over it. If anyone on the planet that knew the game of basketball would have told you that Rajon Rondo and LeBron James was the best two players on the floor in this game (To the Houston Rockets fans, James Harden and Russell Westbrook were not! Stop box score watching…), you would have three questions.

• What year is this, 2010?
• Did Boston trade Rajon Rondo to the Cleveland Cavaliers?
• Did LeBron James anger Pat Riley enough to blow up the Big 3 after 17 games the next year? (Remember LeBron and Erik Spoelstra didn’t get along in the beginning!).

No, it’s 2020 and these two are 34 and 35 years old respectively. Trust, the sports story of the day will be how these two are directly responsible for leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a crucial win in the Western Conference semifinals. Excuse the staff if there are punctual mistakes in this article because this will be prepared in shock!

In this post game’s episode of LeBron James rewriting of the NBA playoff record books in this series, we point out that he’s really starting to make some serious history.

• In Game 2, LeBron James passed Ray Allen for second place all time in 3 point makes in playoff history.
• With LeBron’s 4 blocks in the 3rd quarter alone, he passed Julius “Dr. J” Erving for 12th place on the NBA playoffs list.
• The huge one? With this win, LeBron James passed Derek Fisher for the most playoff wins in NBA playoff history with 162 and counting! 

After the game, LeBron James was very humble in his accomplishments, not leaving out any of his colleagues throughout his career.

Wait a minute! He forgot Lake Show Life! The only Los Angeles Lakers website with in-depth coverage along with video analysis! Oh well, maybe he was tired and forgot us. No harm done!

We’ll get to LeBron James in a minute, but the next 48 hours will have Rajon Rondo written all over it. Rondo became the first player to have at least 12 points and five assists in the fourth quarter of a playoff game since LeBron James did it in a Cleveland Cavaliers uniform back in 2010.

To the new Los Angeles Lakers fans that are checking us out for the first time, welcome to Lake Show Life Lessons. An extended post-game report with video analysis that has covered the second round so far. 

• Los Angeles Lakers lose opening game to Houston Rockets, 5 Lessons!
• Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron and AD stave off Rockets surge, 5 Lessons!

Over the next several pages we will provide highlights of certain players and coaches. Afterward, the comment section is loaded with knowledgeable fans adding their basketball knowledge. We usually start with the stars, but we have to start with a guy off the bench.

Who? Let’s get to Lesson One and find out!

Rajon Rondo shocked the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers and Lake Show Life at the same time!

This is not a Charles Barkley “Guarantee”, but this writer will be flooded with comments below with “Playoff Rondo, I told you so!” comments. Some readers didn’t wait long enough for this post-game report. They gave out business cards in the LAST post-game report.

Here are some comments from Game 2’s lessons:

Slick:  

"You guys better start putting some respect on Rondo’s name!……Agers?"

Donald:

"I’m thinkin’ maybe 3 lessons from this one, Mr.Agers 1) Playoff Rondo! 2) Playoff Rondo! 3) Playoff Rondo! Yeah Yeah Yeah .. but what I wanna know is have u ordered ur ‘Playoff Rondo’ jersey yet? : D"

McKinley Webb:

"Playoff Rondo lives another day!!! If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it…Two best plays of the game…Rondo off balance 3 as the shot clock ran down and picking Harden’s pocket for a layup…PRICELESS!!!! A few more Playoff Rondo Games and you might have to tear up that article Ron to hide the evidence…(JUST KIDDING…Rondo could implode in Game 4) Just enjoying the ride…This is 2010 Rondo…"

• Los Angeles Lakers: How Rajon Rondo will kill any NBA Finals chances!

For the record, if Rajon Rondo keeps playing like this, yes a lot of Lakers fans will have to eat crow and the article above might have to be scrubbed from the internet. Bottom line, this dude orchestrated the best floor game since 2018 when he was in New Orleans and 2010 is not far out of the equation.

At the time, we all didn’t know it but really after Rajon dropped this shot from distance to beat the shot clock, the flood gates opened.

• Rajon Rondo actually closed this game out being a two-way player! Sure LeBron James was LeBron James but, Rondo closed the Rockets out.
• In the fourth quarter when the Lakers were tied, Rajon Rondo stole the game.
• He went on a personal 8-0 run knocking down two 3 point shots.
• Then he hit Alex Caruso on the right wing for his own 3 point shot to force a Houston timeout to stem a 11-0 run.

After channeling his Ray Allen 3-pointer spirit, intercepting a Harden pass with a timely double team and making plays for his teammates, Rondo finished the night with 21 points, 9 assists and one steal.

Anthony Davis discussed Playoff Rondo after the game via ESPN.

"“Playoff Rondo is real,” Davis said. “His intensity picks up. He wants to guard the best perimeter guy. … He’s shooting the ball very well, making the right passes. His IQ is on another level."

Never let Lake Show Life argue with a Lakers superstar or loyal fans to our website, but give us a second to join the “Playoff Rondo” bandwagon!

Lesson two will be about LeBron James. Spoiler Alert: Giannis Antetokounmpo will win MVP, but will anyone care? Read on and see why!

LeBron James will not have the MVP trophy, but it looks like he has a shot at the Larry O’Brien trophy!

Lake Show Life always has a statement that identifies LeBron’s game to the fullest. If the man cares and is focused, the NBA can forget it. The Los Angeles Lakers easily could have lost this game because in the first half, he was the only one that showed up.

Seriously!

While Frank Vogel was figuring out that JaVale McGee was killing the Lakers being on the floor, LeBron James was on fire from the jump, dropping 8 of the Lakers’ first 15 points. James ended the first half with 29 points scoring in every feasible way a player can legally score a basketball.

This is starting to be a case of Deja Vu’ in the Los Angeles Lakers playoff run. In the last series, Gary Trent Jr. got under LeBron’s skin and he dismantled the Blazers’ chances. In this series, it seems Russell Westbrook broke a rule that needs to be heeded.

Don’t pull on Superman’s cape!

Despite LeBron’s exploits, the Lakers still were behind 64-61 at halftime. After one of the worst team performances defensively all season, LeBron started his own block party. He led the way in putting the Rockets offense in the broom closet with 4 blocks in the 3rd quarter. He didn’t give away anything!

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1303533697551876096

• Austin Rivers had to know that he was going to score his first points in the last two games when he went to the basket for the lay-up.
• LeBron did a U-turn and sized Rivers up for a chase-down block to end the 3rd quarter.
• Austin Rivers sat down for the rest of the night.
• His father, Doc Rivers who was watching the game for scouting purposes for the Clippers and to watch his son, left the gym for the night.
• Some advice for Los Angeles Lakers opponents. You have to dunk the ball on this squad. Seriously they break backboards with lay-ups.

LeBron James closed the night out with 36 points (13-23 from the field, 4-9 from distance!), 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks. He became the first Lakers player to have at least 35 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks in a playoff game since Shaquille O’Neal in May 2000.

Based on the playoff stage, this was the most complete performance James has shown in a L.A. uniform. He kept the Lakers in it with his offense in the first half and combined with Rondo to put things away in the second.

Anthony Davis was late to the party, putting in his work in the second half. Read on to see how he did!

The Los Angeles Lakers have Anthony Davis and the Rockets have no answer!

It’s kind of strange for Anthony Davis to be pushed out of the storyline after collecting 26 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists. But with LeBron James dropping a season-high 29 points for a half and the Rajon Rondo thing, that’s what happened.

After falling into bad habits in the first half settling for jumpers, he was reminded that the Rockets had no answer for him while he bullied them in the second half.

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1303527888663113728

What the Los Angeles Lakers are doing to Russell Westbrook is personal Lakers fans. This play right here may have led to Westbrook shooting the Rockets out of the game. For true basketball players, this is the worst thing to hear personally and the biggest show of disrespect.

In another possible exciting prediction from Lake Show Life, get used to AD playing the 5 spot for the Los Angeles Lakers for the rest of the series. Dwight Howard hasn’t seen a second of the floor in this series and barring something wildly infuriating from Frank Vogel, JaVale McGee will join him.

Davis has joined LeBron beating the Rockets smaller players up down low. The P.J. Tucker dynamic is starting to wear out and the rest of the roster has no chance.

Speaking of Frank Vogel. It took Lake Show Life a minute to figure it out, but this man is playing chess while the rest of the coaches are playing checkers. Read on to see what we are talking about!

Frank Vogel uses the first two games to let the opponent shows their options and then he shuts them down!

It took the Lake Show Life the entire season, the seeding games, first-round and half of the semi-final round to figure out something about Frank Vogel.

He has a method to his madness. 

This guy would do wonders at the poker tables in Las Vegas after COVID-19 is dealt with. He coached circles around Terry Stotts in the first round and is doing the exact same thing to Mike D’Antoni.

He allows their schemes to unfold based on the rosters they have, finds the tendencies and slowly takes them all away. In the Portland series, he slowed Damian Lillard down by mandating his big men to go out one extra step to contest his 3 point shots. Eventually, Lillard was taken out if the series.

What he is doing to James Harden has been a joy to watch. In the beginning, it looked like the Lake Show Life staff was ready to criticize Vogel’s schemes letting not only Harden score 21 points in the first half, but Russell Westbrook to get going too.

After giving up 64 points in the first half, Frank Vogel’s adjustments turned the game and series around. The Rockets scored a grand total of 38 in the second half. He allowed D’Antoni to show his hand and now he’s stuck. There are no adjustments that “Micro Ball” that will affect the Lakers for the rest of the series unless they plan to grow.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1303523040026718208

Here are Vogel’s adjustments:

• Markieff Morris started the second half, firmly placing Anthony Davis at the center spot.
• James Harden saw double teams from different angles that took the ball out of his hands.
• The defensive scheme is simple. Let Russell Westbrook take the lion’s share of the shots which threw off the offensive rhythm.
• Fun fact: After dropping 21 points in the first half, James Harden took six shots in the second half. Eric Gordon disappeared only scoring 10 points on nine shots! 

That’s just the defense. FINALLY, he might have found the best rotation to use late in the 4th quarter during the conference finals and maybe the NBA Finals.

We’ll finish the discussion with the players that mesh with the superstars!  

Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo will be closing games for the Los Angeles Lakers for a while!

The number one concern coming into the playoffs would be combinations that work well with the superstars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Well, that’s over. The Lakers bench is embarrassing Houston’s.

For the second straight game, the Lake Show only allowed one player off the Rockets bench to score (Jeff Green with 16!) while loading up 42 points. Let’s go deeper, the third man that everyone keeps complaining about happens to be the Lakers bench! At least for the last two games, bench players are finishing games. Who, you ask?

Alex Caruso: 

Lake Show Life has always stated that defense wins championships and Alex Caruso plays defense. In the second half, he played defense on Harden with discipline and kept in front of him long enough so the double teams could come. He hit timely shots, especially from this bullet pass from LeBron.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1303515135672160257

He has chemistry with LeBron James and it is not forced. Michael Jordan had John Paxson and Steve Kerr, LeBron has Alex Caruso.

Kyle Kuzma: 

The staff could say we told you so to the readers that had Kyle Kuzma traded to the New York Knicks at the trade deadline. However, modesty will not allow us. We’ll just let the fact that Kuzma has hit 13 of his last 17 shots from the field in the last two games do all the speaking. Kuzma is healthy and is straight balling.

He has taken a page out of Brandon Ingram’s book and stopped camping out at the 3 point line looking for shots. He is cutting to the basket and is getting the ball from Rondo and LeBron. Now that the Rockets are constantly worrying about AD and Bron, Kuzma has the middle of the lane all to himself if he keeps being active and moving.

Let’s not sleep on his defense either. he is getting better and better. He looks focused.

Markieff Morris:

He didn’t shoot well only scoring 2 points on 1-6 shooting. Doesn’t matter. His presence in the lineup totally neutralizes the small-ball lineup of the Houston Rockets. Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee won’t work in this series.

• Dwight Howard is too slow to stop the guard penetration and fouls too much. He won’t come out of the paint to defend the shooters.
• JaVale McGee does not impact the game with scoring or rebounding. The Rockets puts guards on him knowing he won’t score and he can’t get out the paint to defend the long ball. 

Look for Anthony Davis to be the big man in the Los Angeles Lakers small-ball lineup to finish games with a combination of these three players and Rajon Rondo setting the table with LeBron.

The Los Angeles Lakers will look to increase their series lead to 3-1 on Thursday. Again, stop us if you’ve seen this movie before!