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Los Angeles Lakers celebrate LeBron’s birthday with win over Spurs!

By Ronald Agers

SAN ANTONIO, TX - DECEMBER 30 LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers dunks past spurs defenders during first half action at AT&T Center on December 30, 2020 in San Antonio, Texas. 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 Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX - DECEMBER 30 LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers dunks past spurs defenders during first half action at AT&T Center on December 30, 2020 in San Antonio, Texas. 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 Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers moved to 3-2 on the year with a win over the San Antonio Spurs.

The Los Angeles Lakers try to make it a point not to lose two straight games. LeBron James played his eighth game of his career on his birthday. In this game everybody seemed to get what they wanted. The Lakers won again. LeBron James played well and Wesley Matthews shot like he got a jumper for his birthday!

It’s probably going to be a downer that LeBron James can’t celebrate his birthday with a party, but the Los Angeles Lakers made sure that a loss didn’t make him depressed. The Lake Show did not look good early on the defensive end against the San Antonio Spurs, but they stayed in control just enough to win 121-107.

The Good:

When Gregg Popovich was tossed from the game for arguing calls, Becky Hammon became the acting head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in the second quarter. This made her the first female head coach in NBA history. Congratulations!

LeBron James always played well on his birthday throughout his career.

But did you know he was below .500 in his career? Well that got taken care of as he quietly dominated game scoring 26 points with 8 assists. He didn’t turn the ball over nearly as much as his teammates did while making sure there was no new losing streak. When the Spurs made a run, he made the right play to keep them at bay.

Wow! Anthony Davis can be effective when he gets the ball? What a concept. AD bounced back from a quiet game against the Blazers with a stat line of 20 points, 8 rebounds and his first 2 blocks of the season. Yes, you read that right, his first two blocks. That lingering calf injury is a problem. He reaggravated it during the game. But like LeBron, when the Lakers needed a bucket, he delivered.

Dennis Schroder played in control in this game. He passed the 20 point plateau again, but it was in the flow of the offense. Lake Show Life was all over him for his lack of playmaking against Portland.

But in this game the ball moved, he cut to the basket and made sure the stars, most notably Anthony Davis, touched the ball every once in a while.

WESLEY MATTHEWS IS ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE!

After missing his first eight 3 point shots this season, Wild Wild Wes finally got his long range jumper going in a small town in Texas. He knocked down his first SIX shots from distance. The good news is Matthews played as good as advertised. The Bad news is if he continues to play like this, Talen Horton-Tucker will possibly start stacking DNP-CDs.

The Bad:

The interior defense for the Los Angeles Lakers needs work. The Spurs had plenty of opportunities for dunks and layups. The only reason the Lakers didn’t get in trouble was because San Antonio blew a lot of them at point blank range. In other situations, the dribble penetration allowed easy 3 point shots to keep things closer than it really should have. Giving up 40+ points in the paint to the opposition is not a good look.

Montrezl Harrell really works hard. This game was no different. But this sequence here? Can’t win them all.

To his credit, Trez did not stop playing. He finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds. But being stuffed on one end and dunked on immediately afterwards. This video might be on Shaqtin’ a Fool soon.

The Lakers turn the ball over way to much. 17 turnovers kept the Spurs hanging around.

Kyle Kuzma’s potential bad habit while shooting 3 point shots. It’s very easy to do after a game when every shot seems to fall like on Sunday against Minnesota. On the release, Kuz doesn’t hold the release when he shoots. He pops his hands down as soon as the ball is gone. Over time it will affect the balance of his body and rhythm of his shot.

The Story:

LeBron James. Did you really think there would be any other one? On his 36th birthday, he shows why he is a NBA legend scoring 26 points in the game. In seven games prior to this one he averaged 32.9 points on his birthday. He scored double figures for the 1000th straight game. The next active player behind LeBron is James Harden who has 411.

The longevity of greatness from LeBron James may be seen again in the future but good luck finding it. Nobody in NBA history has come out of high school with unrealistic hype and exceeded expectations. Then there’s the list of accomplishments.

  • Four time NBA champion.
  • Four time Finals MVP
  • Four time NBA MVP. (Seven times he was runner up!).
  • 13 times First team All-NBA.
  • Eight straight trips to the NBA Finals. Including last year’s winning team, nine of the last ten!
  • Two Gold Medals.
  • 16 time NBA All-Star.

That’s just the accomplishments on the basketball floor. There are so many other ways that he has affected change in society.

Happy Birthday LeBron James from Lake Show Life!

Lake Show Life’s more in-depth breakdowns will come in Lake Show Life Lessons tomorrow. Keep it locked for the only Los Angeles Lakers post-game report with highlights and in-depth analysis.

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