Los Angeles Lakers: 4 lessons from blowout win over Pelicans

From the Los Angeles Lakers…the winner of the MVP is LeBron James!

Oh it’s only been 14 games? So? Okay there’s a lot of basketball to be played, but if LeBron keeps up this level of play, he will win in a landslide just like Giannis Antetokounmpo did last year.

LeBron James has a mental chokehold on the NBA and the Lakers are in another stratosphere because of it. His level of play is changing how the game is being perceived. His effect on the games can’t be gauged by analytics. It’s the efficiency of his play in a career-low amount of time.

LeBron James filled the box scores with 21 points (6-11 shooting), 11 assists, 8 rebounds and a steal.

That’s the analytics above. Let’s look at the real story shown by the eye test.

• LeBron took 11 shots to get his 21 points. He shot 2-7 from distance. Like the Thunder game, he’s working on his shots behind the arc.
• He hit all seven of his free throws. It’s been awhile since he’s knocked down that many free throws without a miss.
• Most of his assists were in the first half when the Lakers made their run to make it close in the first half.

Oh and he dunks on people too.

LeBron climbed over a 6’9 Nicolo Melli and dunked on him and hit Redick in the face with the ball.

He got his teammates involved in the first half, dominated the third quarter and rested quite comfortably in the last quarter. At this rate, Lakers fans need to get home early to watch the first three quarters because the stars might not be seen late in games for a while.

While LeBron James was tearing up the court, Anthony Davis’ play was a little uneven. Even though AD got his numbers, he struggled at times. Read on to see what we are talking about.