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Los Angeles Lakers: 4 lessons in dominant win over Houston Rockets

HOUSTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 10: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers dunks the ball during the first quarter of a game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on January 10, 2021 in Houston, 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 Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 10: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers dunks the ball during the first quarter of a game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on January 10, 2021 in Houston, 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 Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
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Los Angeles Lakers
Carmen Mandato/Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports

DeMarcus Cousins get ejected from the game and somehow LeBron James gets labeled as soft!

Some of the social media hate on LeBron James really needs to stop. Look, this is a different era of physicality and LeBron does take full advantage of it. But the events in this game even brought a former Houston Rocket in the mix.

Here’s how it all started.

  • After Cousins knocked down his second 3 pointer of the game, he started jawing with Markieff Morris.
  • In the ensuing possession, Morris knocked Jae’Sean Tate to the ground in the lane with a hard shoulder to the chest and elbow to the throat area.
  • Cousins then pushed Morris to the ground with a forearm shiver.
  • Morris jumped up, charged at Cousins and shoved him from behind.
  • Keef was held back by his teammates and officials trying to keep him from rolling up on the Houston bench.
  • Morris received a flagrant 1 foul for the play on Tate and was given a technical foul and ejected for the ensuing dustup. Cousins was also given a technical foul but was not ejected.

Fast forward a few minutes and then this happened.

DeMarcus Cousins was ejected for this foul on LeBron James. Boogie was given a flagrant two for a head shot. But this is what was interesting. LeBron was called soft by many including former Houston Rocket, Vernon Maxwell.

"If you breathe on LeBron you are getting a flagrant."

A couple of things here. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was a flagrant one or two, Boogie was gone as soon as the foul occurred. Why? The NBA already has mandated rules about players taking shots to the head no matter what the intent. Did Cousins mean to hit LeBron in the head? No. But it still doesn’t matter.

The ejection still would have happened in conjunction with the Morris scuffle. None of that matters. He was done. So was the Rockets because Boogie was the only player on the floor for Houston that didn’t look scared of the Lake Show.

As for the soft label. We are going to take “Mad Max” out of the equation because he’s not scared of anything, but all of these “people” calling LeBron soft, the question to ponder is this.

Would you go through the lane and take an elbow to the head from DeMarcus Cousins who is 7’0 and 270 pounds? Oh there’s a comment section below. Answer yes or no.

The Los Angeles Lakers played a bad NBA team the right way. Instead of playing down to their competition, they worked on their defensive rotations and use it as a scrimmage while the Houston Rockets played the game like they were in L.A. Fitness. Maybe Tuesday’s game will be more entertaining.

Lake Show Life is extending it’s post-game coverage this season! There will be a short post-game report shortly after the game in addition to the extended post-game of Lake Show Life Lessons! 

More championship coverage for championship fans.

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