Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Lessons in a humiliating loss to Utah Jazz

The Los Angeles Lakers frontline doesn’t scare anybody and teams are starting to scheme just to take advantage of Marc Gasol!

Look, Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee are not coming through the door Lakers fans and if they do, it’s to say hello to old friends. So let’s move on from that. Now the Lakers have to figure out a way to hide Marc Gasol’s deficiencies from opponents because they are now putting schemes together on both ends to exploit the Lakers center.

It wasn’t enough to watch the Wizards run the pick and roll JUST to match up the guards against Marc Gasol that led directly to a loss in overtime…

The Jazz ran the Lakers all over the floor with constant ball movement and guards attacking the basket. With the Jazz shooting lights out from distance, it was easy to drive to basket and kick it back outside to shooters. Just look at how bad the defensive rotations are here.

It’s no longer enough that Gasol is no longer able to stop anyone in the paint. Now Markieff Morris, Kyle Kuzma and LeBron James are falling asleep on their rotations to help a center that the entire NBA knows needs help.

Frank Vogel is in trouble because Montrezl Harrell has his own issues making backline rotations himself. Just look how far back Donovan Mitchell started to drive the lane for this dunk!

But at least Harrell can put the ball in the basket. He finished with 16 points (7-12 shooting!), 6 rebounds and a block. Gasol has been turned into a glorified 3 point shooter at the top of the key which opens up other issues.

• Marc Gasol took five 3 point shots in this game making only two.
• His first four shots were almost uncontested, which isn’t surprising because A) Rudy Gobert doesn’t want to leave the paint and B) Gasol can’t consistently make teams pay for leaving him alone.
• With the other shooters in a slump, LeBron James will be looking at a wall of defenders going forward. Ask Giannis Antetokounmpo how frustrating that can be.

Marc Gasol finished with 8 points (3-7 shooting!), 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Now compare the two Utah centers stats with the Lakers’ big men.

Rudy Gobert: 18 points (8-12 shooting!), 9 rebounds and a block. The Lakers were constantly beat on the pick and roll that led to Gobert alley-oops. He had a plus/minus of +14.

Derrick Favors: 12 points (5-5 shooting!), 7 rebounds (3 offensive!) and a plus/minus of +12.   

The narrative for the next two days will be the “When Anthony Davis gets back, the Lakers will be fine!” spread out over the NBA for everyone to hear. Frank Vogel already is on record saying that Dennis Schroder will help plug some of the defensive holes. Well the Los Angeles Lakers will be without AD quite a while and Dennis Schroder might be back Friday.

Whether Schroder returns or not, if the Lakers play like this going forward, look for a nosedive down the Western Conference standings. Lake Show Life sees a sixth to eighth seed staring in the Lakers’ face with a second-round exit. Dennis Schroder and  Anthony Davis are not enough to cover all of the problems surrounding the Lake Show right now.

Lake Show Life has extended its post-game coverage this season! There will be short post-game reports shortly after the game in addition to the extended post-game of Lake Show Life Lessons! 

More championship coverage for championship fans.