Los Angeles Lakers: Anthony Davis smokes Phoenix Suns, 3 Lessons

Anthony Davis looked phenomenal in the Los Angeles Lakers’ last preseason game.

The Los Angeles Lakers closed out the preseason with their second game against the Phoenix Suns in three days. The games were basically the same as the Lakers fell behind early and made a surge in the second half. Lake Show Life breaks down the game in Lake Show Life Lessons, the only Los Angeles Lakers post-game report with highlights and in-depth analysis!

The Los Angeles Lakers have finished the preseason dress rehearsals and start their Hollywood production, “The Championship Sequel” on Tuesday against their crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. After the ring ceremonies, it’s on.

The Lake Show are the defending NBA champions, so winning preseason basketball games are last on the priority list of Frank Vogel and the coaching staff. Here are the goals on the list.

• Take a long look at Talen Horton-Tucker to see if or where he fits in the rotation for the season.
• Get the new offseason acquisitions a chance to run through the offensive and defensive sets of Frank Vogel.
• Get the overall team some reps considering they had basically no rest (70 days for the record is not fair when some teams haven’t played since the world was considered flat!).
• Figure out roster combinations.
• Give LeBron James and Anthony Davis some time to run up and own the floor before the season starts.
• The top three goals in neon? Make sure that Bron and AD DID NOT GET HURT! 

The Los Angeles Lakers pretty much went through the preseason as expected. The level of play fluctuated between jaw-dropping flashes of greatness at times and “What in the world are they doing?” in others.

In Friday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns, the entire preseason theme was on display. Like the previous game, the Lakers spotted the Suns a double-digit in the first quarter. This time, the sloppiness lasted the entire first half as Phoenix served up 69 points.

In the second half, Anthony Davis put on a show that could bring a federal investigation, seemingly assaulting any Phoenix player that dared to guard him.

His final shot here will have a lot of people not affiliated with the Lakers crying themselves to sleep at night.

While LeBron and AD sat down for the night, Talen Horton-Tucker led the second unit to close out the game for a last-second 114-113 win. The win closed out a perfect 4-0 preseason.

While the roster has gotten better, the handling of slow starts has not. Maybe it’s gotten worse.

For the second straight game, the Lakers looked disinterested as if Tuesday could not come soon enough. On Wednesday, they fell behind 20-7. In this one, the Suns were spotted a 22-7 lead and went to the locker room down 69-56.

Oh, it was ugly.  Phoenix was rolling in the first half.

They knocked down nine 3 point shots thanks most in part to Kyle Kuzma starring in a Roberta Flack “Killing Me Softly” video dying on every pick.

They finished at will in the paint, while Deandre Ayton went crazy hitting all of his shots at the rim. (Marc Gasol will struggle with athletic big men!). The others got layups over sloppy turnovers and very little defensive resistance.

Usually, the Lake Show Life Lessons series has a special “Sending a Limo” segment for opposing players that show out on the Lakers. This is the preseason, so it will be short.

Devin Booker sent a limo for Kyle Kuzma, who was in the starting lineup reportedly replacing Dennis Schroder (Out with an ankle issue). Booker had Kuzma chasing him all over the floor as he served up 20 of his 27 points in the first half. 

There will be points in the season when the Lakers play as if the games don’t matter like this one. But there is no rhyme or reason how they can play worse against a Suns team with no Chris Paul in the lineup falling behind 21 points before the lights warm up.

If this happens on Tuesday night, they will be 0-1 on the season. It will be understood if the focus is gone on Christmas Day (Good luck getting a focused post-game). If LeBron missed his family in the bubble, Thursday will just be a commitment not to get fined. This just in…Who could blame him?

To the new Los Angeles Lakers fans that are checking us out for the first time, welcome to Lake Show Life Lessons. Our extended post-game report with video analysis will cover the progress for the Los Angeles Lakers the entire season!

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.

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