Los Angeles Lakers get blown out by Brandon Ingram’s Pelicans

The Los Angeles Lakers closed a short two-game road trip in the Big Easy facing the New Orleans Pelicans with Zion Williamson and some old friends in Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Lonzo Ball. Okay, the Los Angeles Lakers got blown out. Just read on…

Man the trade deadline can’t come soon enough for the Los Angeles Lakers. This team needs some help badly. They can’t score on the offensive end and get beat up on the defensive end. This was a Mardi Gras party for some former Lakers players.

• Brandon Ingram: 14-21 shooting… 4-6 shooting from the land of the extra point adding up to 36 points.
• Josh Hart: Checking notes…15 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals. Here’s a fun fact: Kyle Kuzma led the Lakers with 10 rebounds. 
• Lonzo Ball did not play. He was probably looking for LaVar Ball quotes trying to get him traded.

The Los Angeles Lakers got rolled by the New Orleans Pelicans, 128-111.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Man, it felt good to see Devontae Cacock start!

Understand that with no AD, Marc Gasol, Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, George Mikan…(Oops sorry!), the Los Angeles Lakers decided to start… wait for it… DEVONTAE CACOK!

Yes, the undrafted player two-way from UNC-Wilmington. The man that has never started an NBA game in his life. I mean what could happen…

YES! Okay back to reality. He finished with 4 points and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes.

(In our ESPN 30 for 30 voice!) What if I told you that Wesley Matthews was the Los Angeles Lakers’ best 3 point shooter in this game?!

Yes, Los Angeles Lakers fans, the same Wesley Matthews that scored 3 points in a six-game span was easily the best shooter on the team against the Pels. He hit his first three shots from distance and was the main reason the Lakers were actually leading in the first quarter.

Lake Show Life is still trying to figure out why he only played 8 minutes in the first half when the rest of the roster shot 3-15 in the same span, but our Editor Jason Reed forgot to get the ibuprofen for the staff today so we’ll let it go. Matthews finished with 14 points.

The game was on the East Coast! 

Think about how mad this Lakers writer in North Carolina would have been trying to explain this debacle if this game would have ended after midnight?

The game ended and we can all watch what happens with Rob Pelinka and the Lakers front office!

It will be more entertaining than this game.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

The Los Angeles Lakers are flat out too little to compete!

There’s this phrase that basketball players use that says…“You can’t coach seven feet!”. Well, the first half of this game summed up this old phrase. The New Orleans big men beat up the front line of the Lakers and opened up lanes for Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram to glide in for easy baskets.

The Pelicans blew the game open with a huge 26-4 run in the second quarter. Get used to this Lakers fans. The Lake Show can’t win games with the small-ball lineup. They don’t shoot well enough from the 3 point line to justify these matchups. Just check out the shooting of these Pelicans players in the first half alone.

• Steven Adams: Hit all five of his shots for 10 points
• Jaxson Hayes: 3-4 shooting for 10 points.
• Brandon Ingram: 6-9 shooting for 16 points.
• Zion Williamson: 6-10 shooting for 15 points. 

Throw in a beating on the rebounding glass, this needs to be the last time the Los Angeles Lakers step out on a basketball court with players less than 6’10 and no we don’t mean Kyle Kuzma. Speaking of Kyle Kuzma…

Kyle Kuzma is starting to stink up Lakers Nation.

It is painfully obvious that Kyle Kuzma didn’t read Lake Show Life’s feature on what the Lakers had to do in the absence of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. No problem, he has time to read it after the game.

•   Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James is gone for weeks… What’s next

See the Lakers need him to be aggressive and look for shots. Instead, he has regressed badly struggling to do something that the consensus knew he could do…SCORE THE BASKETBALL!

Sure, he hit a few shots after the game was already decided, but the fact of the matter is that he was terrible. Couple that with the fact that Brandon Ingram gave him a master class on how to play basketball…Kuz has to be better than this.

The Los Angeles Lakers can’t shoot.

• Dennis Schroder: 2-10 shooting!
• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: 1-7 shooting!
• Alex Caruso: 3-5 shooting! He scored AFTER the Lakers were down 30 points
• Talen Horton-Tucker: 2-5 shooting.

The Los Angeles Lakers shot 42.4 percent from the field and 48.6 percent from beyond the arc. This is why analytics and box score watching do not tell the story.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

A Lake Show Life warning of potential dirt being thrown on the grave of the Lakers championship run! 

Until the NBA trade and buyout deadline passes, most fans are not particularly concerned with games like these. The entire focus of Lakers Nation is on two things.

1. What players will be brought in for the stretch run for the playoffs?
2. When will LeBron James and Anthony Davis be ready to return to the lineup? 

If Rob Pelinka does not land Andre Drummond or Hassan Whiteside, the sports media will start let’s just say gaslighting doomsday scenarios for the Lakers going forward. ESPN’s First Take has already brought the lighter fluid and matches.

You’ve been warned.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost a legend this week…

The NBA world lost Elgin Baylor on Monday. He died of natural cause at the age of 86. Lakers Nation (That are lifelong fans!) know that Baylor could be the most underrated NBA star EVER!

• Check out the career stats: He is only one of two players in the history of the NBA to attain averages of 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds. The other? Wilt Chamberlain.
• Wilt was 7’1 and was a complete freak of nature. Baylor was a 6’5 small forward.
• In 1960-61, he averaged 34.8 points and 19.8 rebounds.
• In 1961-62 he finished with 38.3 points and 18.6 rebounds per game.
• We always discuss the extended excellence of LeBron James. How about Baylor averaging at least 24 points and 10 rebounds in 11 of his first 12 seasons before knee troubles slowed his career?
• He was the first person to score 70 in an NBA game, and it took Chamberlain to break Baylor’s record.

Don’t call Elgin Baylor the GOAT. You can call him the lineage. With his influence, the blueprint for the high flying, graceful and athletic wings has been set for multiple generations.

• Elgin Baylor influenced “The Hawk” Connie Hawkins and Dr. J Julius Erving.
• Julius Erving influenced Michael Jordan.
• Michael Jordan influenced Kobe Bryant. 
• Kobe Bryant influenced LeBron James. Get the picture?   

Finally, Elgin Baylor actually saved the Lakers franchise from bankruptcy. After George Mikan’s retirement in 1955, three consecutive losing seasons brought them to closing the franchise doors forever! Baylor was taken as the number one pick by the Lakers in 1958. In those days, early entry college players could return to school. Luckily he decided to go pro.

Lake Show Life will let this quote by former Lakers owner Bob Short to the L.A. Times back in 1971 put it in perspective…

"“If he had turned me down then, I would have been out of business. The club would have gone bankrupt”."

Lake Show Life Lessons will go into even more depth on what Elgin Baylor did not only for the Los Angeles Lakers, but the NBA in general.

Rest In Power Mr. Baylor, Lake Show life does not exist without you…thank you, Sir.

Lake Show Life’s more in-depth breakdowns will come in Lake Show Life Lessons tomorrow. Keep it locked for the only Los Angeles Lakers post-game report with highlights and in-depth analysis.