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

Mar 5, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) goes to the basket against Golden State Warriors during the first quarter at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) goes to the basket against Golden State Warriors during the first quarter at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports /
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(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

The second quarter!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Think about it, the second quarter wasn’t over yet at this point!

This is why the LeBron James part of the report can be condescending. Does LeBron have to score 50 points every night? The Lakers at times can’t stop anybody. The rotations in the second quarter with non-defensive players that are small.

Just look at the live tweets of Lake Show Life from the second quarter from Jason Reed.

"I can’t believe Frank Vogel is really throwing out a Westbrook/Augustin/Bradley/THT/Carmelo lineup. This lineup has 3 awfully inefficient offensive players (Bradey, Augustin, Westbrook), is small, can’t defend."

So the Lakers need to score the ball right? Well, this is how the Los Angeles Lakers lose games from at least one bad quarter when they give up 40 points.

"Every player on the court when the Warriors made their run has a negative OBPM this season except Carmelo, who was essentially playing the five. THT and Bradley are in the bottom 10 percentile in OBPM."

OBPM is offensive box plus/minus. What this means is the lineup listed above can’t score and can’t guard nobody. This is nothing new as of late for the Los Angeles Lakers. They have given up at least one 40 point quarter in the last four games.

The Golden State Warriors destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers!

This could have cost the Lake Show the game folks. It’s also the theme of the Lake Show Life’s eye-rolling of this team looking at LeBron James to do everything.

  • Jordan Poole: 23 points (9-15 shooting!) 5 assists.
  • Moses Moody:  9 points (hit all four of his shots!).
  • Jonathan Kuminga:  18 points (7-10 shooting!), 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
  • Juan Toscano-Anderson:  5 points, 5 rebounds 5 assists.

Folks, Carmelo Anthony was that dude in this game. He was the only one competing on defense in the first half and hit big shots in the final quarter helped LeBron get this team over the hump. The rest of the bench? Eight points and six of them were from D.J. Augustin who just joined the team off the street.

If it wasn’t for Melo’s 14 points off the bench, this is a different conversation.