Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Lessons in blowout win over Golden State Warriors

Dennis Schroder is now considered a very important cog for the Los Angeles Lakers repeat!

Dennis Schroder had a very eventful night against the Golden State Warriors. Oh he played great, but it seemed that he was in the middle of so many incidents this game.

• First, he became “The Menace” harassing Stephen Curry into tripping over his own feet while stealing the ball and setting up a Lakers easy basket.
• Then Draymond Green stepped Dennis’ ankle and had to leave the game with an injury.
• Finally, “The Menace” re-introduced himself to the world getting into Stephen Curry’s face after taking issue with an elbow to the face on a 3 point try from Curry.

If this Dennis Schroder shows up every night for the Los Angeles Lakers, Anthony Davis can take his sweet time getting his calf and Achilles injuries back to 100 percent. The Lakers will be just fine staying at the top of the Western Conference with Schroder’s intensity as a two way player. For now, Schroder has implanted himself as the third best player on the Lakers as Davide Tovani covered this weekend.

• Los Angeles Lakers: Dennis Schroder is the third star in LA

For most of the season, Lake Show Life was very critical of Schroder not running the offense and instead looking for his numbers. After the Lakers lost to the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this season, his playmaking abilities were questioned.

• Los Angeles Lakers: Defense optional in loss to Portland, 4 Lessons!

Those days are over and Schroder has finally figured it out as shown in this play right here.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1366197349970714625

This is was the playmaking ability advertised when Dennis Schroder was brought over in the Danny Green trade. His drives set up his teammates by gashing the Warriors interior defense time and time again. Instead of forcing his own shot, he opened up opportunities for Morris in the corner.

Dennis Schroder finished with 12 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds. He only shot 3-9 from the field but anyone will accept that when players have a plus/minus of +32. Most importantly, when LeBron sat down for the night the Lakers offense did not skip a beat.

Schroder handled the playmaking duties better than any other time this season in the absence of LeBron on the floor. If Schroder can get Marc Gasol untracked early (More on him in a second!), that alone shows how important this man is for the Los Angeles Lakers success.

Shaquille O’Neal always talks about how important the “Others” are for a championship team. LeBron James dominated as well as Dennis Schroder, but the rest of the roster played just as well as the headliners. Read on to see how they did.