Lake Show Life
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Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons in victory over Minnesota Timberwolves

By Ronald Agers

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - FEBRUARY 16: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers shoots the ball against Jarred Vanderbilt #8 of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the second quarter at Target Center on February 16, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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 Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - FEBRUARY 16: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers shoots the ball against Jarred Vanderbilt #8 of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the second quarter at Target Center on February 16, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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 Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

The Los Angeles Lakers need LeBron James to score…The King scored the ball!

Anthony Davis’ injury has opened up an avenue for LeBron James. What’s that avenue? The golden brick road to his 5th MVP award. Now LeBron James has something that Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant had in early MVP conversations…A storyline that leads to a feel-good story.

  • Luka Doncic was NBA’s global marketing tool. They were going ride his bubble performance in the playoffs into a media narrative. How strong was this going? Las Vegas gave him the odds.
  • Kevin Durant was the NBA comeback story. If he can get the Brooklyn Nets into title contention with league-leading stats, the media can use the age-old, “KD overcame all of the odds to get back to the court better than ever” schtick. Works every time. 

See LeBron James might have won the MVP despite these odds. But if he lost, the voters could justify it with Anthony Davis as his partner in crime that would have diminished his chances. Well, those days are over.

LeBron James has a chance to make a serious run if he wants it. He played as he wanted it.

The question going forward will be if LeBron James can carry the scoring load while performing his normal list of duties. In this game, LeBron James looked like he was adapting to the new responsibilities quite well.

LeBron dropped 30 points (13-20 shooting!) while grabbing 13 rebounds. It was the first time this season James scored 30 points while finishing in double digits in boards. He also had 7 assists.

LeBron showed the perfect balance of efficiency getting the Lakers offense going with 13 points in the first quarter. More importantly, he knocked down 3-4 free throws. Doesn’t mean much here, but here’s where he can really take his scoring level up a few points.

Then in the second half, when the young Wolves started talking smack, he got really focused and the Lakers took off. Lake Show Life has a message to the rest of the NBA…leave the brother alone!

But there was one OOPS! OOPS! from LeBron in the game. Someone left the window open while LeBron shot this 3 point shot from the logo. Something that Portland Trail Blazers guard, CJ McCollum joked about on Twitter.

Look it happens. It’s good for everyone to know that LeBron shoots airballs like the rest of us.

Bottom line LeBron James did what was expected no matter how spectacular the stats are. Lake Show Life believes you are looking at the NBA’s MVP if he can keep the Lakers within the the top three seeds in the Western Conference. But LeBron and the Lakers needed help from others to get out with a win. Read on to see the underrated star of this game.

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