LeBron James proving he’s not a leader with another horrid Lakers loss
By Ronald Agers
The Los Angeles Lakers were back on national television (again) taking on their cross-the-hall rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. But is it a rivalry these days? Sure the fallback argument is the 17-0 when it comes to championships, but as of late, the Lakers can’t beat the Clippers in basketball games head up.
Coming into this game, the Clippers have walked the dog with the Lakers.
- They have won 31 of their last 38 matchups…
- They’ve won six straight…
- Plus they have won all three games this season and looking for a sweep…
Thank God, this game was on TNT, so Charles Barkley could provide some motivation. He made a claim that he would call the Los Angeles Lakers, “The team from Southern California”.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1499612375971815425
Well “The team from Southern California” got blown out (Like AGAIN!), to the Los Angeles Clippers 132-111. It wasn’t that close. Wayne Ellington knocked down all of his five shots for 12 points to close out the game. Otherwise, this would be worse!
The Clippers swept the Lakers and that team from Southern California STILL has not won a game since the All-Star break. They have now lost 16 of their last 22 games and the running joke is why this team gets put on a national stage to get whipped every night!
The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss: (All of these are first-half points!)
The first quarter did not have a lot of defense but it was sure fun to watch!
There are plenty of more fun options than watching the Los Angeles Lakers in the first quarter like doing laundry, vacuuming the carpet, or washing dishes. This game was definitely not one of those times. It really was entertaining basketball on both ends.
The quarter ended 36-31 with the Clippers leading, but it wasn’t because the Lakers turned the ball over, took bad shots, or played bad defense. The Clippers just did a great job of executing their offense.
The Lake Show did as well. Trust…quarters like this one have been few and very far in between as most would see two quarters later.
Russell Westbrook played his best half in eight games in the first half!
Let’s start with this shoulder shrug thing…
The Los Angeles Lakers are stinking up the NBA and haven’t won a game since the All-Star break. Quit playing Russ.
However, it doesn’t mitigate the fact that he played very well in the first half attacking the basket, scoring 12 points in the first half. But he regressed in the second half. Why? Well, read this!
Austin Reaves is just a winning basketball player!
This dude knows how to play the game of basketball. Not this sit behind the 3 point line firing jumper or looking cute on defense dying on screens. This dude gets it. It’s a shame that the rest of the roster doesn’t put as consistent an effort as he does on BOTH ENDS!
Reaves started the game scoring the ball collecting 9 points on the strength of a couple of shots behind the arc, but it was his contributions on that huge 14 point run in the last 4 minutes leading into halftime that was impressive.
He had an alley-oop to Malik Monk and another one to Russell Westbrook seen here to stem a near blowout in the second quarter. Shaquille O’Neal called him “Rudy” from the movie but the staff of Lake Show Life calls him Alex Caruso at a mere fraction of the price.
Reaves finished with 9 points and 3 assists.
Poor Malik Monk…shoots well and has nothing to show for it!
Hey Malik…you’ve been warned!
"But Lake Show Life has a theory. The Lakers know they can’t keep him because they can’t afford him. They are sabotaging his value giving him uneven minutes to mess with his stats for more negotiation value. Well, it won’t work. Malik…RUN!"
Malik Monk was on fire in the first half basically collaborating with Reaves to get the Lakers back in the game. In the second half, he’s on the bench while Kent Bazemore gets minutes. Let all of that marinate like a tic-tac.
There is no way Phil Handy and David Fizdale would let this happen.
Lik’ Lik’ finished with 12 points
The rest of the pages note the Los Angeles Lakers’ shortcomings as an organization. If you are easily triggered, the staff of Lake Show Life would recommend you stop reading now!