Los Angeles Lakers welcome back LeBron James in loss to Kings

The Los Angeles Lakers started their 10-game stretch run before the playoffs with rumors that LeBron James was questionable to return from his ankle injury. It was confirmed that he would play about three hours before game time Friday. The Lakers welcomed him back with a bad loss to the Sacramento Kings.

The Los Angeles Lakers came into this matchup with the Sacramento Kings losing three of their last four games. But help was in the Staples Center when their franchise player, LeBron James returned after being out a month with a high ankle sprain. The Athletic’s Shams Charania made the announcement hours before the game.

"After missing over a month with high ankle sprain, Lakers star LeBron James is expected to return tonight vs. the Sacramento Kings assuming warmups go as planned."

The warmups seemingly went fine as the “King” made his first appearance in 20 games. He finished with 16 points (6-12 shooting!), 8 rebounds and 7 assists. However, it didn’t matter because the Sacramento Kings upset the Lakers in the Staples Center 110-106.

Lake Show Life has been saying this for a couple of weeks, this is not a good run for the Lake Show.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

LeBron James at the end of the first quarter on.

It was obvious that LeBron was picking his spots in his first few minutes in the game. After sitting down in his normal rotation rest, he started to cook.

As the saying goes…As LeBron goes, so does the Los Angeles Lakers. Just check out the highlights of a 26-7 run that erased a totally forgettable start (More on that later!) to snatch the lead from Sacramento by the middle of the second quarter.

• Much more energetic defense.
• Ben McLemore knocked down three 3 pointers when he checked in off of crisper ball movement.
• Marc Gasol did not miss a shot and his presence spread the floor for LeBron to work.

But someone had to start the spark in the Lakers’ offense. Let’s talk about him.

Talen Horton-Tucker had a very strong start. 

When the Lakers’ offense was floundering through the first quarter (18 percent shooting!), it was THT that came out aggressive attacking the basket. He hit his first three shots from the field for 6 points and added 2 assists. The problem is he was never heard from again.

Andre Drummond is showing how he fits with the Los Angeles Lakers!

In the first few moments of the first quarter, Drummond looked like he would be on next week’s episode of Shaqtin A Fool with a missed dunk and layup. But then he exploded in the scoring column being the first player in double figures. He’ll enjoy playing with LeBron James in the postseason it seems.

Andre finished with 17 points (7-11 shooting!) with 7 rebounds (4 offensive!) and 2 blocks. Foul trouble really hurt here. The Kings didn’t have an answer for him.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

The start.

Really? The Los Angeles Lakers fell behind the Sacramento Kings 30-15. Let that sink in. This is the same team that lost 154-105 to the Utah Jazz without their starting backcourt. But in true Kings fashion, they gave up an 8-0 run to end the first quarter thanks to LeBron blowing past Moe Harkless for a layup and a foul. Then Marc Gasol taps in the missed free throw to end things at 30-23.

Montrezl Harrell got hurt in the first half.

Former Laker, Damian Jones hit Trezl in the jaw in the first half that left him on the floor. Harrell immediately went to the locker room and wasn’t seen again in the first half.  He returned in the second half and continued to make positive plays when the Lakers stretched the lead in the third quarter.

Man, this team turns the ball over too much!

21 turnovers!…Oh, that’s all.

Frank Vogel’s rotation patterns…

The readers have full reign to weigh in on this in the comment section below. Lake Show Life is done trying to understand.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Man…the Lakers threw Buddy Hield in a broom closet!

Why is this the story of the game? Well before the All-Star break when Sacramento won, Buddy shot 7-11 from behind the arc. Since then, the Lakers guards have been ALL OVER HIM! In the previous game between these teams, Hield shot only 1-9 from the 3 point area. In this game? Buddy finished 1-11 from the field and an even worse 0-5 from the land of the extra point.

BUT….

The Los Angeles Lakers halfcourt offense was terrible in the last quarter!

The Sacramento Kings analytically will go down as the worst defensive team in NBA history. The Lakers scored 18 points in the final quarter. Almost a carbon copy of the Dallas Mavericks collapse on Saturday night.

LeBron James returned to the lineup…Now what?

Now that the Los Angeles Lakers would bring back LeBron James against the Sacramento Kings, it still leaves a cloudy future for the team. Even though the Lake Show needs him back in the lineup, the Kings are in 1-2-3 Cancun mode after getting rolled by 49 points this week and should’ve been in no danger of winning this one.

The Lakers have nine games left after this contest. Then what? Lakers fans thought things would improve when Anthony Davis came back. The team lost three of four. Now when the band is back together, the question is…

Is the Lakers issues attached to injuries or a deeper problem?

Stephen A. Smith finishes this report out.

Since LeBron came to the Lakers in 2018, let’s take a look at the “LeBron Effect” before this game.

• The Lakers are 106-57 (.650) with him and 19-33 without him (.365).
• The Lakers were 8-13 without LeBron this season which is a 31 win pace in an 82 game season.
• The Lake Show was 28-13 with LeBron this season, which is a 56 win pace in an 82 game season.

Frank Vogel gave his thoughts over the next couple of weeks according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

"“My comfort level, it’s not enough. Not in any way, shape or form. But it’s just the nature of what we’re in. And we have to make the best of it and compete through it and come playoff time, we’ll be ready”"

Okay…we’ll see.