Los Angeles Lakers: 4 lessons from bad loss to the New York Knicks

The Los Angeles Lakers have a big decision to make on Dennis Schroder!

No, the Los Angeles Lakers do not have to make a decision on Dennis Schroder’s contract status until the offseason, even though an article over the weekend did cause quite a ruckus on social media and the comment section below.

Must read: Los Angeles Lakers: Three offseason bailout plans from Dennis Schroder  

But they do have a decision on whether to play him in tonight’s game vs. the Charlotte Hornets. Dennis Schroder is in a lot of pain and with Boston coming up on Thursday and a back to back series against the Utah Jazz on Saturday and Monday, this is the ideal time to sit him.

The frustrating thing for Lakers fans is, this easily is the best stretch of basketball for Schroder this season.

After wearing out the Nets scoring 19 points, it’s easy to forget that he injured his tailbone taking  a charge from Blake Griffin on the baseline. His early exit might have been the best thing for Dennis and the team because he now is struggling at times to move.

Schroder showed a ton of heart playing through pain, but after hitting this skyscraping floater, the cat was out of the bag. Everyone knew Schroder’s back was an issue.

On the offensive end, this was not problem. In the first half, Dennis was handing out business cards scoring 18 points on 6-8 shooting in the first half. The problem was on the defensive end.

Knicks broadcaster, Walt Frazier immediately declared that the guards should attack him on the other end. By the time he finished the sentence, Derrick Rose blew past him for a layup.

Then the Knicks adjusted their defense in the second half by sending double teams and strong pressure in the half court. The lack of 3 point shooting allowed the Knicks to clog the middle and it took him out of the game scoring-wise.

Dennis finished with 21 points (7-13 shooting!), 6 assists and 3 rebounds.

His team leading 5 turnovers are just killing the Lakers offense. When this team turns the ball over, it’s almost a guaranteed bucket or a trip to the free-throw line.

There are six games on the schedule in the next ten days. The Lakers really need to cheat a couple of days for rest so back issues don’t start getting bad around playoff time.

It’s going to be interesting to see if Frank Vogel will sit him out the Charlotte game.

Andre Drummond put on his own personal showcase on Saturday night against the Brooklyn Nets just dominating LaMarcus Aldridge and the Nets front line. The only problem for Dre and the Lakers was, the Knicks have free access to cable due to their Governor James Dolan owning MSG networks. 

Read on to see what access to video and a few Tom Thibodeau defensive schemes can do to Andre Drummond!