Los Angeles Lakers take control of series beating Phoenix in Game 3

The Los Angeles Lakers returned home with a much needed split trying to take control of the series in Game 3. Despite a hobbled Chris Paul, the Suns were no match for the Lake Show led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Lakers took the win and control of the seven game set.

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns 109-95. That is not the story.

What Lakers Nation and the sports media will be talking about going into Game 4 is how LeBron James and the Lakers embarrassed Jae Crowder. LeBron was living in Crowder’s head rent free by laughing at him before doing drop step moves for layups, baiting him into fouls and collaborating with Andre Drummond with synchronized basketball moves.  

• LeBron James finished with 21 points, 9 assists, and 6 rebounds.
• Jae Crowder finished with 9 points (2-9 shooting!), 3 rebounds and 2 assists. He also got an early exit getting tossed at the end of the game. 

To quote Dave Chappelle in that Prince skit on the Dave Chapelle Show…Game Blouses!

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Anthony Davis was dunking on the entire Phoenix Suns franchise!

AD was dominating in the first quarter trying to literally tear the rim down with multiple dunks. It’s a real shame that Lake Show Life can’t put all of them in this section. The system we use can’t handle all of them just like the Suns backline couldn’t handle the vicious screams from Davis after dunks like this.

The best thing that happened to him was getting an elbow to the face early in the game. It seemed to anger him and make him even more aggressive than he was in Game 2 (Oh that’s trouble for Phoenix!). AD had 10 points and 5 rebounds by the end of the first quarter.

It didn’t end there. Davis scored 18 points in the third quarter on his way to a game high 34 points with 11 rebounds. If this guy is halfway engaged, the Suns can’t stop him.

Man…Andre Drummond is rebounding the basketball! Oh he’s starting to rim protect too?

Andre Drummond is slowly starting to figure out his niche in the Los Angeles Lakers grand scheme of things. First is the rebounding. He was already close to the double figure mark in the first half alone! Plus he set the tone for the defense showing the Suns that you might want to bring your heart and a lunch pail to finish at the rim.

All Lake Show Life requires Andre Drummond to do is this and the Los Angeles Lakers will be very happy.

The Lakers may have ended the series after halftime!

God bless Chris Paul for trying (More on him later!), but the Suns offense was ground to a halt by the Lakers defense. The Lakers announced the presence with authority with a 16-6 run to start the third quarter.

No matter if the Suns threw up a weak shot or turned the ball over for a six minute stretch, the Lakers took off and got their fast break going and basically ran Phoenix out of the gym forcing timeout after timeout.

Here’s the timeline of the floodgates opening for the Los Angeles Lakers.

• Dennis Schroder running the fast break throwing a lob pass to Anthony Davis for a slam dunk.
• LeBron James taking Mikal Bridges inside the paint for a bank shot that forced a Suns timeout. You could see LeBron flexing knowing things were getting good.
• LeBron James handing Mikal Bridges a floor seat while driving to the basket for a slam dunk!

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

The 3 point shooting!

This part of the offense did not hurt the Lakers because Phoenix shot just as badly, but the Lake Show has to shoot the ball better from behind the arc. The team shot 3-16 in the first half and most were open shots. The guards continue to struggle behind the arc.

Yes, it’s nice to know that LeBron James is the best 3 point shooter in this series, but this shows bad the 3 point shooting is. His percentage is towering over everyone else.

Deandre Ayton is STILL…killing the Lakers!

Just look at what this guy is doing in this series. Right now, Ayton is Phoenix’s only real weapon.

• Game 1: 21 points (10-11 shooting!), 16 rebounds (8 offensive!) with a block.
• Game 2: 22 points (11-13 shooting!) and 10 rebounds.
• Game 3: 22 points (11-15 shooting!) and 11 rebounds.

At this point, Ayton scoring in the paint doesn’t matter anymore. The Lakers have locked up the perimeter players and they are shooting blanks from behind the arc. The tide turned with the slow regression of Devin Booker. Ayton has been consistently dominant. Booker’s contributions has been inconsistent since Game 1.

Turnovers…

The Lakers (Especially LeBron James!) has to stop turning the ball over. If they had taken better care of the ball, the game would have been over in the first five minutes.

The Lake Show fell asleep a while in the last quarter. 

The Suns were never in danger of winning this game but this is not a habit the Los Angeles Lakers want to carry into the next round.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

This series is over!

Chris Paul was known as one of the best leaders in the NBA for years. After watching him gut out Game 3, CP3 will be revered for the rest of his career through to his Hall of Fame induction. He has so much heart that Lake Show Life gives him the utmost respect.

However…

The Suns have no chance with him being hurt. He can’t shoot some of his shots that drove the Lakers crazy in their wins in the regular season and his issues allow the Lakers to load up on Devin Booker, who was basically thrown in a broom closet. He won’t try a 3 point shot and the defense should be using that intel to back down on Deandre Ayton and smother him.

Jae Crowder has been horrid and the rest of the shooters probably depend on Chris Paul more than the Lakers depend on LeBron.

Lakers Nation has a real chance to show how classy they are.

The Los Angeles Lakers fanbase claim to be the best in the NBA. Well, they have a huge chance to prove it and teach other NBA fanbases how to conduct themselves during the playoffs. After the NBA gained a huge surge of momentum showing the essence of why the fans are the main ingredient of what makes this sport great…

We have clowns to mess it up for everybody.

First, we see a Sixers fan spill popcorn on top of Russell Westbrook while he walks to the locker room after getting hurt. While Westbrook is being held back by five of six men from going after him, the clown gets thrown out and is banned indefinitely.

Then we see Trae Young being spit on in Madison Square Garden. The NBA offered Trae Young the option of filing a complaint. Trae did not. That fan is banned indefinitely.

ESPN’s Tim McMahon reported that some Utah Jazz fans were banned for harassing Ja Morant’s family.

"The banned Jazz fans made separate vulgar or racist comments to Ja Morant’s parents, his father Tee Morant told ESPN. “I know heckling,” Tee Morant said. “But that’s different than heckling. That’s straight up disrespectful.”"

LeBron James spoke out in defense of Russ on social media saying that something needed to be done by the NBA. Trust this writer’s words when it reads…OH THEY WILL! This was a PR nightmare the league can’t afford.

To the Lakers fans that see behavior like this in the Staples Center, report them and get them out of the arena. Don’t let a few idiots mess up the best NBA experience we’ve had all in over 18 months!

To the clowns that think that this is cute and want to be copy cats. Here’s a nice warning from a fellow sports analyst from Winston Salem State…