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Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons from the first road loss of the season

Ronald Agers|
Jan 27, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris (12) celebrates with guard Ben Simmons (25) and center Joel Embiid (21) after scoring the game winning basket during the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 27, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris (12) celebrates with guard Ben Simmons (25) and center Joel Embiid (21) after scoring the game winning basket during the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
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Los Angeles Lakers
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Joel Embiid sent a limo for the Los Angeles Lakers and Marc Gasol was the driver!

Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers are in the middle of the road on what to do with Marc Gasol. The one good thing about Gasol’s play was that he scored more points (8) than he did in the previous three games combined (5). He also had three great passes to LeBron James for dunks and layups.

Kevin Germany weighed in on his importance before the game. Now he has to be the last staff member on the Gasol bandwagon.

Look we all knew that he wasn’t going to stop Embiid in this game. The fact that he contributed in SOME way while he was on the floor is cause for celebration lately. But that’s the problem. His inability to stop any big man for the last week and a half is wearing the rest of the frontline out because of lack of options.

This site said in the preseason that the Lakers will struggle against elite teams until they find a center. No one saw things going this bad, this quick.  Montrezl Harrell, Markieff Morris and Anthony Davis are power forwards. Let’s look at the damage.

  • Montrezl Harrell: 0 points, one shot, one rebound and 4 fouls trying to guard Embiid.
  • Anthony Davis: Read the last page again.
  • Markieff Morris: 4 points (2-5 shooting!), 2 rebounds in 13 minutes.  

Now let’s compare what Joel Embiid did. Pay particular attention to Marc Gasol in this defensive horror show. His part was the start of an 18-2 run in the opening quarter that got the Lakers in trouble.

Embiid finished with 28 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. He spent the entire night at the free-throw line, hitting11-13.

Frank Vogel and the coaching staff will have to start making decisions.

Are they cool with Gasol competing somewhat on the defensive end without fouling while making sharp passes to LeBron James on numerous occasions.

Or…

Benching him and using a smaller lineup that features more minutes for Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker. Sure the frontline gets smaller, but those two players will make things very difficult to make the entry pass. After that send waves of wing players committed to playing defense to cover this glaring weakness! 

Don’t ask for a trade in the comment section. It’s not coming for a while…if ever.

The next lesson is about two guards that were basically invisible in the first half, but nearly helped LeBron pull out a victory in the las four minutes. Read on to see who they were. 

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