The Los Angeles Lakers finished the back end of their mini Texas road trip taking on one of the worst teams in the NBA, the Houston Rockets. Coming into this game, the Lakers blew a chance to build on a very unlikely win over the Golden State Warriors over the weekend with a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Houston on the other hand, recently snapped a 12 game losing streak by upsetting the Memphis Grizzlies only to be discarded by the Miami Heat to start another one.
Even though the Lake Show have been guilty of giving away games to bad teams, the Rockets are not one of them. They were looking to win their fourth straight in a must-win game to keep their 9th seed in the play-in tournament.
The Houston Rockets took the Los Angeles Lakers Lakers to overtime and then ran them out of the gym beating them 139-130. Yes, the Lake Show got smoked like a pack of Kools to a bunch of rookies. Barring a review taking away a ridiculous twisting 3 point shot from Kevin Porter, Jr. in the extra session, this could have been worse.
Lakers Nation deserves better than this. They have been bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray, conned and robbed of their time waiting for this team to produce what they promised. This is about as close to an NBA pyramid scheme as you can get.
This team has not hit rock bottom because you see a team has to rise to be able to fall. When have the Lakers risen on any sort of level that makes them relevant? Oh, we all will wait.
The staff of Lake Show Life wants to extend its congratulations to Russell Westbrook for passing the 23,000 point plateau. Only 33 players have done this feat and it will be revered by us. Has this season worked out as planned? No, but there’s evidence that the man showed up to work in yet another game.
Russell Westbrook is now one of 33 players in NBA History to exceed 23,000 career points. pic.twitter.com/GOUrnhsuXu
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) March 10, 2022
He not only showed up to work, but he put in that work as well. It’s something about the Houston Rockets that appeals to Russ because he has put up some serious numbers against this team with averages of 24 points, 10 rebounds and nearly 9 assists.
He almost matched the season numbers in the first half alone with 17 points (6-9 shooting!), 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Russ finished with 30 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Yes, he was the best Laker on the floor. Yes, he was one of the few that tried and what’s even more incredible is that he can put up any production with this dysfunctional franchise that is doing everything to throw him under the bus.
The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
Malik Monk and Austin Reaves are starting to become the most consistent duo on the Los Angeles Lakers!
The staff of Lake Show Life usually apply the eye test to these games because analytics only open up bad narratives. But in this case, we will make an exception to prove that these two need to be on the floor more in some combination for the play-in tournament.
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Lakers have a net rating of +9.7 when the trio of James, Monk, and Reaves play together. Their offensive rating lies at 123 per 100 possessions, with an effective field goal percentage of 58.7 during those possessions.
With a team that struggles to score at times, one would think that these guys are effective and shoot well enough to play off LeBron James.
But, Frank Vogel does not write for Lake Show Life. Like this epiphany came to the Lakers coach (checking calendar)…last weekend before the Golden State game?
"“I like the combination of Malik Monk and Austin Reaves out there together,” Vogel said. “That’s something that we had seen more in second units throughout the season but it’s been a combination that our analytics teams said has really produced. Those guys have some of our best on-off, plus-minus stats, those types of things and we decided a couple games ago to look at it in the starting lineup and even though we hadn’t won yet, those guys are performing at a high level…"
- Austin Reaves: 17 points (4-7 shooting!), 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 33 minutes.
- Malik Monk: 20 points (8-13 shooting!), 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 40 minutes.
But Frank Vogel keeps giving Avery Bradley and Kent Bazemore minutes like Reaves and Monk have been in the NBA 19 years. Please if anyone can provide clarity for this situation, please do because this writer is out of theories.
Well, LeBron James decided to play in at least one of the games in the state of Texas.
He should have sat out. More on him later! This loss is on him!
D.J. Augustin might have matched his entire point total with the Lakers in the first quarter alone!
The Houston Rockets waived Augustin in February to set their roster after the trade deadline. Like Michael Jordan said in his documentary, “The Final Dance”, D.J. took it personally.
Augustin looked as sharp as his hairline gashing Houston for 8 points in only six minutes. He hit all three of his shots which included two from the land of the extra point. He had 11 points at halftime. Many fans think that the Lakers need a big body on the roster (This just in, you are right!), but the Lakers also need professionals that will prepare. Augustin is that guy. Plus, this guy can shoot the ball.
D.J. finished with 16 points on 4-7 shooting!