The Los Angeles Lakers finally finished out their ten-day, six-game annual Grammys trip on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks. One player that didn’t make it to the game was LeBron James, who took an early flight back to Los Angeles for treatment after an MRI detected general swelling.
Frank Vogel spoke on how the team will manage his workload going forward via ESPN.
"“I think about it every day,” Vogel said. “We’re always mindful of the load that he’s carrying, in constant communication with him and the medical team. And in terms of what we do going forward with the knee and where he’s at, it’s really a heavy lean on the medical staff and [trainer] Mike Mancias and what they feel is best. It’s really not a head-coach thing as much as it is relying on the medical team.”"
In other words, look for more 30-35 minute night when he returns. If anyone believes Frank Vogel will keep LeBron’s minutes monitored, there are some statues in front of Crypto.com Arena that the staff of Lake Show Life can sell you readers for very cheap. Give us the money and you figure out a way to get it home.
The Los Angeles Lakers were rolling for three quarters shooting the lights out of the gym. However, they keep forgetting that the NBA plays 48-minute games and got their doors blown off in the final quarter to lose 129-121.
The Lake Show was up 11 points and let that slip away by getting outscored 38-20 to close out the last 12 minutes.
There are some things that this team cannot do and will not do as long as Frank Vogel is the coach of this team.
- Be able to stop the pick and roll!
- Have a combination of five players that can contribute at a high level for any length of time because someone will be benched.
- Remember that big man combinations helped win this team a title!
- Understand that adjustments have to be made with a team full of scorers that struggle on defense! Talen Horton-Tucker and Carmelo Anthony were scoring well early and were non factors late!
Three years ago, Lake Show Life predicted the Lakers would miss the playoffs after a loss to the Atlanta Hawks. We are not at that point yet, but if this team doesn’t fix these problems, they are going to find themselves on the outside looking in.
They have now lost three straight and finish the road trip at 2-4.
The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
(Checking Notes!) So when Malik Monk gets in the starting lineup he scores nearly 20 points a game, right?
This performance is not a fluke Lakers Nation! Malik dropped 29 points on Atlanta in the previous game. Even Hawks announcer, Bob Rathburn wanted to name Malik to his “All Opponents” team.
The staff of Lake Show Life has moved on from the fact that Frank Vogel’s rotation patterns is not credible enough to be compared with his NBA coaching counterparts, but continuing to mess with Malik Monk’s minutes is ridiculous.
After missing the Charlotte game on Friday, Lik’Lik’ was placed in the starting lineup in LeBron’s absence. Lakers fans, he did pretty good to start things in the first half.
Malik Monk beats the halftime buzzer to complete a 19-PT first half 🔥@Lakers lead at the break on NBA League Pass: https://t.co/L8Rrlv9ZoR pic.twitter.com/OGKY3zEQ0c
— NBA (@NBA) January 30, 2022
Malik Monk shot 7-8 from the field (4-5 from the land of the extra point!) for 19 points. What’s frustrating is that this is nothing new for Monk WHEN HE STARTS! He averages less than 10 points coming off of the bench.
But it was more than scoring for Malik because he hit the boards, collecting 6 rebounds, and made solid plays off the dribble for his teammates.
Malik finished with 33 points (12-19 shooting!), 10 rebounds and 5 assists. He knocked down an absurd eight 3 point shots. We all wish he didn’t settle late, but this dude was balling!
The Los Angeles Lakers really give Trae Young problems!
Yes, Trae Young is an All-Star and he put up numbers in this game, but he was wildly inefficient and the Lakers frustrated him with physical double teams in the first half. Plus the Lake Show just refused to let this guy get his 3 point shot off. Coming into this game, Young was on an awful stretch of hitting seven of his last 37 shots from beyond the arc against LA.
The Lakers hounded Young into five turnovers in the first half which included two traveling calls from so much pressure on the ball.
The offensive explosion in the first half!
Whether it was the Lakers riding the hot hands of Anthony Davis and Malik Monk or just atrocious defense from the Hawks, the offense was on a roll in the first half with one of the better performances of the season with or without LeBron James.
The Lakers dropped 71 points in the first half on an absurd 71 percent shooting in the first half!!!
The Los Angeles Lakers bench!
Welcome back Talen Horton-Tucker! After multiple games of subpar play and inconsistent production, THT spearheaded the bench in the first half by attacking the basket and finally finishing the play!
https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1487861180848771073
He wasn’t alone though. Carmelo Anthony continued to hit timely shots putting together a double-digit scoring output. If anyone wants to explain why these two were not on the floor in crunch time when the Lakers needed points, well there’s a comment section below.
The way things was going for three quarters, it was difficult to find anything bad about this game. But the Los Angeles Lakers never disappoint and gave Lake Show Life 12 minutes of solid content to share!