Los Angeles Lakers fight to stay out of Play-In and beat the Knicks

The Los Angeles Lakers countdown to NBA’s Play-In Tournament continued on Tuesday with a late season showdown with the New York Knicks. But is it? A couple of scenarios could get the Lakers to the sixth seed. But it starts with a win. Did the Lakers accomplish it?

The Los Angeles Lakers are quickly finishing their regular season with two back to back sets this week ending on Sunday. After riding Anthony Davis’ dominant 42 point night to a major upset win over the Phoenix Suns, the Lake Show matched up a red hot New York Knicks team that had won 22 of their last 32 games after the Derrick Rose trade.

The storyline for this game was all about if the Los Angeles Lakers had a chance to avoid the play-in tournament that starts one week from Tuesday.

To eclipse the Portland Trail Blazers to avoid the play-in:

• If Portland finishes 3-0 or 2-1, they finish ahead of the Lakers.
• If Portland finishes 1-2, the Lakers have to run the table and finish 4-0. 
• If Portland loses all three games, the Lakers can go 3-1 and avoid the play-in.

The Blazers finish the season playing a murderer’s row of opponents with the Utah Jazz, the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets.

To eclipse the Dallas Mavericks to avoid the play-in:

• If Dallas finishes 4-0, 3-1 or 2-2, the Lakers have no chance of passing the Mavs. 
• If Dallas finishes 1-3, the Lakers have to run the table and win out at 4-0.
• If Dallas loses all four games, the Lakers could go 3-1 and finish ahead of the Mavs.

After losing to Memphis on Tuesday night, the Mavericks finish the season against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Toronto Raptors and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks gave the fans a reminder why the NBA is fantastic. The Lake Show outlasted the Knicks 101-99. If this team slides in the playoffs somehow, this game could be the start of something big.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Maybe Kyle Kuzma’s strength is in his hair color!

The inconsistency of Kyle Kuzma is driving Lakers Nation up the wall. There are nights that he plays like the third piece that fans and the media constantly bring up. Then he follows them up with nights that could have Rob Pelinka on the telephone looking for offseason trade deals.

Against the Knicks, Kyle Kuzma was handing out business cards in the first half.

He scored 16 points in the second quarter (Including 8 straight Lakers points at one stretch!) on his way to 18 points to lead the team in scoring at the half.

He finished with 23 points.

Anthony Davis is still rolling!

AD still made an impact to open up the spacing for his teammates (ESPECIALLY KYLE KUZMA!) to shine while performing the tight rope balancing act scoring the basketball. Davis had a strong first half following up Kuz’s explosion with 12 points.

He didn’t shoot as well as the last two games scoring 20 points on 8-23 shooting, but this defensive stop helped save the game in regulation.

Watching this guy literally play with three New York players on top of him was inspiring to watch. These type of games shows if fans watched the game. If they did, they witnessed one of the better games of the season on the defensive end. If they didn’t watch the game, they are exposed.

Andre Drummond stayed out of foul trouble and played well! 

Yes, there was some members of the Lake Show Life staff (Hello! Writer here!) that was all over Drummond’s play that was marred with foul trouble. Against the Knicks, he stayed out of foul difficulty and finished with a double double. His activity will be important in the postseason with big to big collaborations with Anthony Davis.

Dre had 9 points and 6 rebounds in the third quarter alone.

Lakers reporter, Mike Trudell provides the plan for Andre Drummond’s success going forward.

"Drummond is definitely benefitting from NYK focusing their defense so much on Anthony Davis … which is the idea, especially once LAL get LeBron back. That will benefit Drummond even more."

Drummond finished with 16 points and a monstrous 18 rebounds. It does help to stay out of foul trouble doesn’t it?

This game and the Lake Show Life readers! 

This writer is a Knicks fan and to read comments from the readers saying “We’ll be watching” in a respectful manner is what Lake Show Life is all about. This was a great game and everyone that is a part of Lake Show Life should have loved witnessing this game. Respect fellas! We always brag on 99 percent of the great Lakers fans (There’s always a couple that keeps things from perfection!), but we do!

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

The Lakers couldn’t stop Derrick Rose in the first half!

We all just read that Kyle Kuzma was rolling in the first half with 18 points, but D-Rose was matching him basket for basket. Rose went into halftime with another huge first half in the Staples Center. After dropping 19 points on the Clippers on Sunday, he scored 16 points against the Lakers. This is probably not an indictment of the Lakers defense as much as a celebration of the former MVP. Rose has totally changed his game and added three maybe four more years to his career. How inspiring is this? LeBron should be paying attention.

If LeBron adds a floater to his game, he could easily get his easiest MVP award of his career because no one will be able to stop him.

Derrick Rose finished with 27 points.

Alex Caruso left the game with a foot injury and did not play in the second half.   

Let’s just say LeBron had better play against Houston. Man the Lakers can’t stay healthy! Anthony Davis’ effectiveness waned over this scenario. He just didn’t get the ball in his spots to score the basketball.

Julius Randle just wants to kill the Los Angeles Lakers every time he sees them!

LeBron James comes to town. Randle asks for his release. The Lakers grant his wish. Jules played like the meeting was yesterday. Man this dude was balling!

31 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Before THT’s game winner, he shot a rainbow 3 pointer with AD in his face dropping it through with nothing but net!

Montrezl Harrell played five minutes!

Trezl can score 5 points on 2-3 shooting, but Markieff Morris can play after missing 27 of his last 28 shots from behind the arc. The Hornets will give Harrell all the run he wants. Color this guy gone after the season. There’s no justification for this!

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Oh really? Was there any other story?

THT was on his way to being the the GOAT of the game (Not the greatest of all time!) after losing the ball out of bounds late in overtime along with many questionable decisions. But this shot bailed the young player and the Lakers out!

Talen scored 8 points in overtime finishing with 13 for the game.

Please pray for referee Tony Brown and his family!

This week it was announced that NBA referee Tony Brown was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He will miss the rest of the season. Many from around the NBA sent out their well wishes including LeBron James. 

Cancer affects all of us. There’s not a person on this Earth that hasn’t lost a friend or family member to this terrible disease. Sure players, fans and the media usually give the referees a hard time over calls but this is bigger than basketball.

Lake Show Life sends prayers and well wishes to Tony Brown and his family. We ask everyone to take a second to do the same.