Los Angeles Lakers gain Drummond and lose Kuzma in loss to Miami Heat
By Ronald Agers
The Los Angeles Lakers tried to avoid a season sweep by the Miami Heat. Another star was unavailable as the Lakers dropped a hard fought contest.
The Los Angeles Lakers tried. Man they really really tried!
The Lakers pushed the Miami Heat to the limit, but eventually lost 110-104.
Frank Vogel used his 15th different starting lineup of the season without LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma due to injuries. Talen Horton-Tucker due to his one-game suspension for his role in the fracas on Monday (More on that later!) and the loss of two more players for extended periods of this game.
The Lakers really need to talk contract extensions with the coaching staff. They deserve it.
The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
Frank Vogel.
There have been times that Lake Show Life has given Frank Vogel the business with his lack of adjustments and rotation decisions. This game showed how good a coach this guy is. The Lakers had no superstars, Kyle Kuzma was a late scratch and he had to find combinations with two players that just showed up and came up with a game plan that almost worked.
This team was prepared and took a much more talented Miami Heat team down to the wire. Frank Vogel deserves a ton of credit for keeping this team competitive during this difficult time.
Andre Drummond showed flashes of why Lakers fans should be excited!
The Lakers fanbase did not get much chance to see Andre Drummond against the Milwaukee Bucks before his toe injury. But he showed plenty in his first nine minutes in the first quarter.
https://twitter.com/BR_NBA/status/1380307659211960330
He played with energy and purpose dominating early on the boards and especially the defensive end. Stealing a Jimmy Butler pass and leading the fast break to an alley oop to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a sight to see. 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists is just foreshadowing of the impact the big man will have when the stars get back in the fold.
Andre finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
What did the coaching staff do to KCP and Wesley Matthews?
These guys went crazy in the first half!
- Wesley Matthews: 11 points on 3-6 shooting (2-5 from 3 point land!) with 2 steals.
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: 15 points (Checking notes in shock…15!) on 6-10 shooting (3-4 from 3 point land!) with 2 rebounds.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope needs to post this game on YouTube for future reminders on how to be aggressive while looking for his shot. He finished with a season high 28 points.
The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
The Los Angeles Lakers sent the Heat to the line WAAAAAY too much!
Victor Oladipo, Goran Dragic and the rest of the Heat had their own personal parade to the free throw line. They had 32 points in the first quarter. Half of those points came from the free throw line (16-18). Miami finished the game 32-40 from the charity stripe.
The Lakers turn the ball over too much!
The Los Angeles Lakers lost their grip on this game by turning the ball over in the third quarter. Nine Lake Show turnovers turned into 17 Heat points. That’s the difference in the game folks. The Lakers finished with 22 turnovers.
Victor Oladipo got untracked.
All season long, the Lakers have allowed opposing guards to have big nights. All season long, Victor Oladipo has struggled with his shot. Against the Lakers, Dipo had his best game all season and easily in a Miami Heat uniform. Then there was this…
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1380330118959222787
Oladipo injured his knee on another dunk going backdoor later on. He finished with 18 points on only 8 shots.
Markieff Morris got kicked out of the game in crunch time!
The referees left much to be desired with their overall performance, but Morris picked a terrible time to get tossed in the fourth quarter. The team needed his scoring late (Plus he was shooting okay!) and the air went out of the sails after he was tossed.
The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
Man the Los Angeles Lakers competed folks!
This is the blueprint of how the Lake Show has to play until LeBron and AD come back. There are no more excuses. Win or lose, the Lakers did themselves proud by not rolling over after falling behind by 10 points early. Instead they went on a 20-9 run in the second quarter to lead 56-54 at the half. But the old bad habits hurt the team in the third quarter with turnovers and bad fouls.
Don’t be fooled by the assists. Dennis Schroder’s confidence is GONE!
2-12 shooting for 10 points. Okay he had 13 assists, but the 7 turnovers helped kill the Lakers chances to win this game. Watch the box scores if you like, but give it a few weeks. Everyone else will catch up to what Lake Show Life is saying.
This injury list for the Los Angeles Lakers.
When Kyle Kuzma was held out with a calf injury for this game, the Lake Show Life staff is getting the feeling of…“Can anything get much worse?”.
Well it did. Alex Caruso got injured in the first half trying to block a shot and then he banged his head against Andre Drummond’s knee in the second. Wow.
This website is known for telling it like it is so here goes.
This team is going to have to get healthy and quick. It’s bad enough that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are out for extended periods of time, but now important role players (Matthews…neck. Caruso…concussion/COVID. Gasol…COVID. Schroder…COVID) have lost games this season for various issues. The media outlets say things will be better when the superstars come back.
Lake Show Life says it won’t matter if there are no role players healthy for them to play with.
Talen Horton-Tucker being suspended.
The Lakers beating the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night was overshadowed by the ejection of Montrezl Harrell and OG Anunoby. Lake Show Life has made it clear about how Harrell reacted (This writer now wants a Trezl jersey!) in the post game afterwards.
The NBA really put the hammer down with some added fines and suspensions. Fred VanVleet, DeAndre’ Bembry and Talen Horton-Tucker were all suspended one game. Montrezl Harrell was fined $20,000 and Anunoby was fined $30,000.
Let’s take Harrell off the list. he said he would do it again and to be honest his teammates should pool up the money and pay his fine. Let’s talk Talen Horton-Tucker.
To anyone that thinks that THT shouldn’t be suspended…GET OVER IT! No one can leave the bench for an altercation period. This is a rule that has survived over 20 years and it started because of the New York Knicks and YES…the Miami Heat.
David Stern was the NBA Commissioner at the time and he led with an iron fist. These fights were a continuation of the Detroit Pistons Bad Boy era and stopping rough play was his biggest priority. Most people call this era soft, well these were the good old days.
Is the staff upset that Horton-Tucker was suspended (Especially with Kyle Kuzma out!)?
Absolutely. But let THT take this as a learning experience and get ready for Brooklyn on Saturday. That’s the game the Los Angeles Lakers desperately need him.