LeBron masks the Lakers issues with NBA-best 56 points in win over Warriors

The Los Angeles Lakers are going backward in the Western Conference standings with four straight losses coming out of the All-Star break. What’s even worse is that two of those losses were blowouts so bad that the fans at the Crypto.com Arena sent cryptic boos to the Los Angeles Lakers roster and coaching staff.

After the Los Angeles Clippers blew them off the floor on Thursday night with an absurd 23-0 run in the third quarter, the face of the franchise aka LeBron James made Lakers history by calling the Clippers “A better team”.

The Lakers welcomed Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors to town to play a nationally televised game that is turning into an inside joke. Why? The Lakers have lost them all.

It was fascinating to listen to the ESPN announcing crew of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson go back and forth on why this team is so bad. Is it effort? Is it roster construction? Is it Russell Westbrook?

The site was set ablaze with a comment about LeBron James’ leadership after the Clippers’ loss.

• LeBron James proving he’s not a leader with another horrid Lakers loss

Ronald Agers:

"Let’s stop fooling ourselves. LeBron is no leader. He was no leader in Cleveland and trust this writer he was way down on the totem pole in the Miami Heat locker room. That team belonged to Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem. One more blowout and LeBron James is going to take himself out."

McKinley Webb:

"Again, I have talked about this numerous times before…Whatever it is about LeBron, the man just cannot win…If he loses or makes a bad decision people jump all over him…When he wins, it’s all about how he cries, he flops, he’s stat padding, he is arrogant, his finals record is 4-6, He’s not Kobe or Jordan…People are really going to miss this man when his is gone…I guess I will never figure out why he is so disrespected by so many…"

The Los Angeles Lakers may have saved a flatlined season by shocking the Golden State Warriors, 124-116. Maybe someone in the Lakers organization showed LeBron the Clippers report and he read it, maybe he looked in the mirror or maybe he just decided to lead.

Game recognizes game and on this night, LeBron James was head, shoulders and 12 feet above everyone else!

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

LeBron James came out strong…again and put up numbers…again, but this time he didn’t stop!

The headline might be condescending to some readers. Those readers are absolutely right. Why? His numbers have masked all of his other issues that put the Lakers in this mess. But let’s deal with the positives, shall we?

LeBron started out the gate on fire dropping 16 points in the first quarter to push the Lake Show to a 14 point lead over Golden State.

LeBron James absolutely worked the Warriors for 56 points (19-31 shooting, 6-11 from beyond the arc!), 10 rebounds and 3 assists. He didn’t let the Lakers lose, he didn’t sulk when the Warriors made their final surge and most importantly, he energized his teammates!

The Los Angeles Lakers really did play well for (checking watch) 12 minutes!

Like the Clippers game, the Lakers really jumped on their opponent moving the basketball and making solid cuts to the basket. LeBron James was the spark, but Russell Westbrook attacked the basket for layups, Malik Monk hit timely shots and Austin Reaves was the glue guy making plays. They raced off to an early lead and led after the first quarter 32-25.

To the new readers that are thinking so? What about the rest of the game? Don’t worry, hit the purple bar below that turns to page two. Oh it’s coming because they have a bad habit that needs to be addressed.

The Lakers dominated the fourth quarter!

When was the last time that these words were used in a Lake Show Life post-game report? For the first time in weeks, the Lakers really muscled Golden State and did not allow them to get into their offense. The Lake Show closed the final 12 minutes the right way…35-22.