LeBron James should want Frank Vogel fired after Lakers loss to Kings

The Los Angeles Lakers played the Sacramento Kings (Like again?!!!) on the road in the state capital. The Lakers started the second half of the season after a surprisingly mediocre 41 games that left the Lakers with a 21-20 record leaving them at the 7th seed only one game in the loss column ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The “State of the Union” of the Los Angeles Lakers is about perception. While LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony compare this journey to the same blueprint that the Super Bowl champion, Tampa Bay Buccaneers used successfully to present the positive side of the situation…

"“It’s a great comparison, What better team and what better situation to compare it to than what the Bucs did last year?” “Just from the standpoint of starting off slow and having new guys on the team. New system. Guys trying to figure it out, guys trying to figure out how to play with LeBron and (Anthony Davis) and now incorporating Russ and just now everybody figuring out what their role is,” Anthony said. “And what made it beautiful for the Bucs is that once it came together, it came together and you saw what happened with that.”"

Then there’s always the other side to others that sees the other side to the same journey. Take Russell Westbrook’s demeanor after the Lakers previous loss to the Memphis Grizzlies over the weekend…

In these 13 seconds…

• Westbrook snickered after being referred to as “the Lakers point guard”. 
• Westbrook silently stares at the table for an incredibly awkward ten second pause as he tries to choose his words. Then says…

"You know…I guess we’re moving in the right direction other than tonight. All you can worry about is the next game and playing your best towards the end of the year.”"

Man, the press conference after this is going to be something, that is if Russ showed up. The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Sacramento Kings 125-116.

Wow…just wow.

When you think things couldn’t get any lower for this team when it comes to beating bad teams, it just gets worse. This post game is dedicated to Frank Vogel because he is the reason this team lost. Lakers fans will notice a theme.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Malik Monk was on fire coming out of the gate!

Outside of Lik’ Lik’s bad performance in the previous game against Memphis, Lake Show Life has figured out that there are two types of Malik Monks. There is Malik Monk the starter and Malik Monk the reserve.

Ever since David Fizdale allowed Monk to start in the absence of Frank Vogel, outside of the Grizzlies game, Monk has averaged more than 20 points a game. Coming off the bench he averages less than 10 points a contest.

Malik was on fire scoring 12 points on the strength of four shots from the land of the extra point. Plus there’s that chemistry thing with LeBron James that has been evident all season long.

Malik finished with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Does anyone else see a problem with these notes?

• Malik only played 29 minutes and he’s young right? LeBron played 38 minutes. 
• He shot lights out and was the best 3 point shooter (6-9 shooting!), but Russell Westbrook (More on him later!) got 37 minutes.
• Frank Vogel staggered the two best players minutes (Not named LeBron!) in Malik Monk and Austin Reaves for most of the game until it was too late! WHY?!!!

Speaking of LeBron, there’s no time like the present to talk about him right?

Bartender? The staff of Lake Show Life would like to have what LeBron James is having!

It doesn’t matter at this point that the Sacramento Kings can’t guard a G-League team without a monumental effort. The Lakers broadcasting team mentioned that the Kings are worse defensively under interim head coach Alvin Gentry than they played when Luke Walton had the job.

But this dude is just wearing the NBA out when he is playing these NBA teams. Even Memphis has been playing lights out on the defensive end and they couldn’t stop this guy. At the half, LeBron James had 17 points in 18 minutes. As impressive as that is, it’s nothing compared to the fact that the Lakers only had 2 turnovers in that span and the starters had zero.

He finished with 34 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a block. He did his best to close out the game on both ends of the floor. He might have broken Marvin Bagley III’s hands on that second chop down, but he got away with it. He can’t go 5-10 from the line though.

The Lakers are wasting his performances. There’s no analysis for this, just common sense.

Sure Alex Caruso is missed by the Lakers Nation…but this Austin Reaves dude… 

Austin Reaves set another career high scoring 19 points (7-10 shooting!) with four shots from distance. He really played winning basketball in a game that bordered on the And-1 Mix Tape quality of organized basketball. He was in the game battling with De’Aaron Fox trying to stay in front of him and drawing offensive fouls by fighting through screens.  But this play here though…

Understand the play started with a Reaves missed 3 point shot. But instead of standing out on the perimeter, he cut to the basket and took off for an impressive dunk.

The Los Angeles Lakers do not have to play the Sacramento Kings again this season!

Oh, you thought watching these games were brutal, just think about covering these games and finding analysis in four games of subpar basketball with absolutely no defense.