Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons in a huge season series loss to Portland

May 7, 2021; Portland, Oregon, USA; Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Alex Caruso (4) goes to the basket past Portland Trail Blazers power forward Carmelo Anthony (bottom) during the first half at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
May 7, 2021; Portland, Oregon, USA; Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Alex Caruso (4) goes to the basket past Portland Trail Blazers power forward Carmelo Anthony (bottom) during the first half at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
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Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Andre Drummond…Los Angeles Lakers fans is bad! Real BAD!

Lakers fans, it’s time to start facing facts. Andre Drummond is not the center for this team. Let’s just take a look at the first quarter stats.

  • 7 minutes, 4 rebounds, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls.

It’s hard to see who is frustrated more. Is it Drummond who is struggling mightily to figure out the offensive schemes (or lack thereof!) of Frank Vogel? Or is it the coaching staff watching Drummond collect fouls like a kid collects baseball cards? The offensive foul on Jusuf Nurkic in the first half was so bad a blind person could see the elbow hook to make his move.

The Lake Show Life Lessons staff is not going to go on a Stephen A. Smith rant Kwame Brown style (A reminder here!) to describe Drummond’s play as of late but we are getting close.

He scored two field goals and one of them was because Portland was completely focused on AD.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1390867785400475652

Drummond fouled out with four points (2-4 shooting!), nine rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes. Marc Gasol was slow on defense at times this year, but Dre is starting to make Gasol look like the 2013 NBA Defensive Player of the Year in comparison.

Speaking of Gasol, he finished with six points on two 3-point shots, four rebounds with two steals.

The handling of the center minutes is almost as bad as the injury problems on this team. Montrezl can put the ball in the bucket for a team that struggles to score the basketball. Is that a frustrating thought? Think about how frustrated Anthony Davis was playing his heart out. Read on to see what happened.