Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons in ugly loss to the Phoenix Suns

The Los Angeles Lakers played an important game against the Phoenix Suns that could have completely covered the four-game losing stench of last week. The Lakers lost a couple of things on Tuesday night. They lost their two game winning streak and the second seed in the Western Conference as the Phoenix Suns defeated the Lake Show in a foul plagued basketball game.

Lake Show Life breaks down what else happened in Lake Show Life Lessons! The only Los Angeles Lakers extended post-game report with in-depth analysis and highlights. 

The Los Angeles Lakers can’t wait for Wednesday’s game against the Sacramento Kings to be over so the All-Star break can begin. This roster is starting to become a revolving door of healthy players due to injury and COVID-19 protocols. Now that Dennis Schroder is back, just look at the injury list for this game.

• Marc Gasol out indefinitely for NBA’s Health and Safety protocols.
• Kyle Kuzma was a late scratch before the game for a heel contusion.
• Then things got worse when Alex Caruso left for neck spasms during the game.
• Oh, by the way, Anthony Davis did not play due to a calf strain and Achilles issues. 

Instead of going to Atlanta to support LeBron and AD in Atlanta, maybe the roster should spend their All-Star break in the training room, a spa, or in a bed somewhere trying to get some rest.

Despite LeBron James going crazy offensively, the Lakers had their two-game winning streak snapped by the Phoenix Suns, losing 114-104.

Here’s a Lake Show Life question for the readers for the comment section. Do the Lakers need Marc Gasol more than he’s given credit for? 

Lake Show Life and its readers have run the discussion of getting rid of Marc Gasol in the dirt, but with Frank Vogel as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, does he see something none of the staff outside of Kevin Germany sees?

• Defending Marc Gasol from Los Angeles Lakers fans

From what was observed in this game, it’s not about how much the Lakers need Gasol as much as possibly Frank Vogel needs him. Despite his slow rotations and bricks from behind the arc, Vogel values Gasol’s smarts and length. Never mind the fact that Damian Jones is tall and showed flashes of what Dwight Howard and JaVale did last year.

Montrezl Harrell and what he brings to the table? Lake Show Life just wishes Vogel would value his production as much as Marc Gasol’s.

Lake Show Life addressed this in the early post-game report, but let’s go into this in more detail.

•  Los Angeles Lakers lose a foul fest against the Phoenix Suns

The referees in this game should be ashamed. They collectively took a potentially very entertaining game and really messed it up for both teams. This should have been about two teams fighting it out for the second seed of the Western Conference. Instead, the referees ruined the rhythm of the game, spent most of the third quarter at the monitors checking miscellaneous calls and got played by LeBron James in the process.

Coming out of halftime both teams came out with more physical and competitive play. Instead of letting a very entertaining game unfold the referees created their own storyline.

• First, the Los Angeles Lakers received two technical fouls from LeBron James and Frank Vogel that added up to free throws.
• Then LeBron got into the heads of the referees attacking the basket forcing the referees into foul calls for the Lakers.
• Then the Phoenix Suns lost their best player in Devin Booker with two technical fouls getting him ejected from the game.

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1366976034831171590

Let’s go into a timeline to the rough play that Booker had to deal with before this incident and the referee’s behavior.

• Devin Booker was tripped by Damian Jones and fell to the floor. He then tripped Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the floor. The referees went to the monitors to see if he committed a flagrant foul (He didn’t!).
• Then KCP fouled Booker in the air on a fast break that had him land on his shooting elbow. The referees went to check for a flagrant foul (It was!).
• Devin Booker was on his way to a huge night before he was tossed. He ended up finishing with 17 points (7-12 shooting!), 6 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals.  

Lake Show Life can’t explain it, so read the official statement here from the NBA Officials Twitter page.

The Phoenix Suns website Valley of the Suns weighed in on if the incident was Booker’s fault but it’s plain to see that this was ridiculous. Something ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith addressed on social media.

"WTH is going on. How in the hell does an official EJECT @DevinBooker31 over something so innocuous??? The NBA has got to start doing something about this. No fans due to COVID, we’re still loving how competitive this game is. We want Booker on the court vs the Lakers!"

Look, Lake Show Life is all about analysis in these post-game reports, but we are basketball fans too. The best part of the job is analyzing the game with all of the stars available. People want to see stars on television until the Staples Center opens back up. Nobody spends their time watching referees move the goal posts ejecting All-Star players.

Maybe LeBron was right, Devin Booker is the most disrespected player in the league.

To the new Los Angeles Lakers fans that are checking us out for the first time, welcome to Lake Show Life Lessons. Our extended post-game report with video analysis will cover the progress for the Los Angeles Lakers the entire season!

Over the next several pages we will provide highlights of certain players and coaches. Afterward, the comment section is loaded with knowledgeable fans adding their basketball knowledge. We usually start with the stars.

 Let’s get to Lesson One to find out who!