Los Angeles Lakers suffer another blowout against Phoenix Suns

The Los Angeles Lakers have fallen off the cliff since the end of the third quarter of the first preseason game against Brooklyn on Sunday. The Lakers’ lack of defense and rebounding allowed the Phoenix Suns to carve up the lanes for easy baskets. The Lakers were down as much as 20 points in the first half and never recovered.

Does anyone remember last Sunday at the 1:22 mark of the third quarter when Dwight Howard stole the show providing his own unscheduled entertainment (As if a Halloween movie Staples Center style was on the internet!)?

• He started by fouling out
• Getting a technical foul talking to James Harden who wasn’t even in the game!
• Collecting a flagrant foul!
• When the referees finished their seemingly two-hour review, they let Dwight Howard take a free throw for the loose ball foul. Howard drained it, but he couldn’t take it because he had fouled out and was supposed to be on the bench.

Since all of this happened, the Los Angeles Lakers have fallen off a cliff. The Nets started the last quarter on a 24-2 run and ran away with a 123-97 win.

•  Los Angeles Lakers open the preseason with a loss to the Brooklyn Nets

Then against the reigning Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns, they had a worse showing in a 117-105 loss that will show which fans actually watched the game. The score does not indicate the actual blowout that happened.

The defense regressed (More on that later!), the rebounding was still bad (More on that later!) and the Lakers didn’t wait until the 4th quarter to get blown out, that happened in the first half.

It’s reported that LeBron James and Russell Westbrook return on Friday…

YAY??!!!

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Carmelo Anthony still has plenty of points left in the repertoire!

Most loyal Lake Show Life readers (Who I love to death!) know that this writer is a New York Knicks fan. So it is understood that it was great to see Carmelo Anthony in the purple and gold putting up buckets in the first half.

The original Melo’s impact will be seen in the playoffs. His midrange game is nearly unstoppable if he has room to operate. Playing against an opponent’s second unit will bring the Lakers plenty of double-figure scoring performances from the bench this season. Sure, the Knicks bias is there but vintage moves were being shown in a game that had very few shining moments.

Speaking of shining moments…

Malik Monk is balling folks! 

His nickname is the microwave because he can heat up real quick. After putting together a personal 8-0 run against the Nets by himself on Sunday, the same scoring explosion happened in the second quarter in this game.

The scoring leader in the first preseason game continues to knock down shots from behind the arc while knowing where he needs to be on the floor which will be a plus when LeBron James and Russell Westbrook get back to the lineup. He finished with a team-high 18 points.

Anthony Davis is getting his timing back!

AD has to realize that he is the straw that stirs the drink with this team. For the last couple of the games, you can see that he is trying to get accustomed to his post-injury timing before opening night. He finished with 14 points (5-14 shooting!), 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Despite the stats you see here, there is a huge red flag in his game that needs to be addressed. More on that later.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

DeAndre Jordan:

Maybe the Lakers should have brought back Javale McGee…like the other five players they welcomed back!

Give it 15 games and Lakers fans will be booking flights to Spain to apologize to Marc Gasol and beg him to come back. Jordan is showing why the Brooklyn Nets couldn’t wait to get rid of him in the offseason. He can’t rim protect and his pick-and-roll defense has been terrible for years.

Give a few weeks and Lakers Nation will start to see the bad attitude that this locker room politician is known for when Frank Vogel has no choice but to ride with Anthony Davis or pray Dwight Howard can act like he has some sense and not get himself in foul trouble or get kicked out.

When DeAndre Jordan touched the floor, Phoenix went crazy and the game was over. Yes, he is that bad and will get worse.

Anthony Davis’ free-throw shooting!

Let’s take the injury narrative out of the differences between the first two years of AD in a Lakers uniform. The number one difference has been free-throw shooting. During the championship season, Anthony Davis was hovering around 90 percent from the charity stripe. Last year it dropped to 74 percent. This game? 50 percent.

This guy is an all-world talent and he will be playing a ton of time at the center position based on what you read in the last paragraph. He can really make a huge difference by drawing fouls and getting to the line. It has to improve folks. He shot 3-6 in this game.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been awful in rebounding this preseason.

The Lakers have stated on record that they want to be a fast-breaking team. Well, history shows that rebounding is a huge part of starting a fast break. Something the Lakers have been atrocious at doing especially on their defensive boards. After getting pounded by Brooklyn, the Suns continued the dominance they put on Los Angeles in the playoffs.

Phoenix smoked the Lakers 12-3 on the offensive backboards and 52-40 overall.

The story of the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Press play and watch Anthony Davis at the end…

The Los Angeles Lakers can’t stop anybody. This has nothing to do with no LeBron and Westbrook. This is about defensive breakdowns and even worse, lack of effort. Frank Vogel and the coaching staff have some work to do with this bunch.

They are reading the press clippings of how good they are instead of getting better. The perimeter defense is worse than last year and to be clear, that is not a good thing.