LeBron James should want Frank Vogel fired after Lakers loss to Kings
By Ronald Agers
The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
Frank Vogel…decided that it was a good idea…to insert Trevor Ariza in the Lakers starting lineup!
To understand where Lake Show Life is coming from, we have to go back to the last game when the Lakers were getting killed on the boards due to the small-ball lineup. Vogel waited until the Lakers were behind to put Dwight Howard in the game. He turned the game around with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
How did the Trevor Ariza experiment work out? Two fouls and a seat on the bench in one minute and 30 seconds. Even recently-benched Stanley Johnson came in and scored five quick points.
If wasn’t for the hot start of the aforementioned Malik Monk and LeBron James, this game would have been much different in the first quarter.
Dwight Howard was finally inserted into the lineup in the second quarter and he basically shoved Kings’ center Alex Len under the rim onto the Sacramento bench. He scored 7 points (Hit all of his three shots!) and had 3 rebounds. He provided toughness and physicality that slowed the dribble penetration by Sacramento in the first half.
This Lake Show Life quote about Dwight Howard bears repeating about Frank Vogel when it pertains to Dwight Howard…
"Frank Vogel needs to do a better job of reading the room when it comes to Dwight being able to contribute from night to night. If this Dwight shows up, let him play. If he doesn’t, then hand him one of the best seats in the arena to observe and think about his future."
Dwight Howard scored one more point and grabbed four more rebounds. He may never play more than 15 minutes again this season. No…seriously.
Frank Vogel’s rotations have been a mess at times this year, but wait until Kendrick Nunn and Anthony Davis gets back. Dwight might not play another minute this season unless the sky is falling.
The Lakers got caught up in the “Aerobic activity” of the Sacramento Kings when it came to defense!
The bad thing about scoring with the ease that the Lakers enjoyed to start this game is that a team can lose a little bit of focus on the defensive end. The Lakers allowed the Kings easy access to layup from dribble penetration (Especially with Dwight Howard out of the game!) and allowed ten straight baskets building from a 8-0 run going into intermission. Which led to the third quarter.
The third quarter…
40-23. Most of the damage was done with Dwight Howard…like the only rim protector the team has that is willing to do any dirty work on the bench. The perimeter shots that were falling in the first half flat out wasn’t falling in this quarter. Like many other games earlier in the season, the third quarter cost the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers (Outside of Austin Reaves for a stretch!) could not stop De’Aaron Fox!
Despite all of the drama surrounding both teams in this four game series, the one constant is De’Aaron Fox lighting up the Los Angeles Lakers defense. He came into the game averaging 27 points, but in this game the Lake Show let this dude do what he wanted. Fox ended with 29 points (11-21 shooting!), 4 rebounds and 4 assists. He would have had more assists if LeBron James didn’t keep knocking the ball out of Marvin Bagley’s hands in the final moments.