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

The Los Angeles Lakers backcourt needs some movement in the rotation or changes in general!

Rob Pelinka might have to take a look at a major issue within the Los Angeles Lakers roster…the guards. It has been awhile since every backcourt player shot well in the same game. At least one or two throw up some serious bricks for games at a time. Dennis Schroder gets a pass for his shooting, but it’s easy when Talen Horton-Tucker puts in work like he did in this game.

Talen Horton-Tucker: 

THT was extremely productive in this game with the offensive struggles of some of his backcourt teammates. He helped LeBron with the Lakers comeback in the second quarter scoring 12 straight Lakers points on 4-6 shooting.

He finished the game with 16 points (6-9 shooting!) with 3 rebounds. He hit a couple of long-distance 3 point shots at important times. He continues to improve with his playmaking combining with Alex Caruso here.

Sure he needs to pick his head up a little more on some of his drives (Okay he does get that tunnel vision!) but the way he is playing, it is amazing that he has barely played enough games for a half of an NBA season.

Alex Caruso: 

He continues to do what Alex Caruso does. He scored 7 points (2-4 shooting with both shots from behind the arc!), with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. No word yet on if he will be held out of the Sacramento game for his neck issues.

Caruso is eventually going to be an X-factor playing the contenders in the second half of the season. Good teams will dare someone on the floor to make a shot. Alex Caruso will be that guy. Will he retain that confidence that had him at the top of the list of 3 point shooters earlier this season?

Now that we have talked about the good, Lake Show Life will deal with the bad. We mean really bad!

The rest of the backcourt shot a combined 2-13 from the floor. Most of the missed shots are coming from the starting shooting guard.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope:

No one roots for KCP like the writer of Lake Show Life Lessons, Ronald Agers. He has climbed from being a social media joke to one of the main reasons the Lakers handled the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. But it’s time to face facts here.

After replacing Alex Caruso for a spell as the NBA’s top 3 point shooter percentagewise, Caldwell-Pope can’t throw it in the Pacific Ocean if he was neck deep in it. After scoring only 19 points in the last three games, KCP finished 1-7 from the field for 4 points. His only basket was a layup late and his defense is starting to slip.

Some fans will start to call for KCP’s benching after awhile. Lake Show Life has some advice. Don’t waste your breath. It will be a flat-out shocker if Vogel does it. He will rest him before he benches him.

Wesley Matthews Jr.:

Wesley Matthews is starting a weird trend. He can go multiple games without scoring a point. For the last two games, Wild Wild Wes’ jumper has just been wild. If you close your eyes, that will be an illustration of what he did scoring the ball.

But it gets worse.

He was on the floor for some reason in the fourth quarter and Dario Saric, who’s post-game is not in the NBA’s top ten was beating the brakes off him inside. Lake Show Life keeps bringing up showcasing players for potential deals next month and this is our only guess to why a guy that shot 0-2 in this game saw the floor late instead of someone like Montrezl Harrell.

Speaking of Montrezl Harrell, he played 19 minutes in the starting center position replacing Marc Gasol. The minutes that he gets probably frustrates the staff of Lake Show Life more than Montrezl Harrell himself. Seriously besides getting on the Anthony Davis high school growth spurt plan, he’s not going to grow. But what is Frank Vogel doing? Read on so we can all try and figure it out.