Talen Horton-Tucker finally shines in Lakers loss to Warriors

The Los Angeles Lakers start their “Playing out the string” part of the schedule against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night. After their seventh straight loss with a San Antonio Spurs win on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers effectively started their Cancun plans. Against the Warriors, the Lake Show put out a lineup that did not include…

• Carmelo Anthony (Out with a Non-COVID illness).
• LeBron James (Ankle and foot sprain).
• Anthony Davis (Plantar Fasciitis injury).
• Russell Westbrook (Right shoulder soreness).  

There was some house cleaning (Also read: Trimming the budget!) done as well before the game. The Los Angeles Lakers waived Trevor Ariza to make room for G-League players to finish out the season.

Don’t be surprised if Kent Bazemore, Avery Bradley, Dwight Howard or Wayne Ellington get waived as well.

There are not too many more ways to explain how the Los Angeles Lakers found themselves buying a ticket or watching cable like the rest of us to be a part of the postseason experience. But let the staff of Lake Show Life count the ways.

1. After going into the All-Star break with a 27-31 record, the Lakers found themselves with the toughest schedule in the NBA to end the season and had a 4-17 record to show for it. 
2. The Big 3 played only 21 games together which everyone consistently brings up. What they don’t elaborate on is the 11-10 record in those games.
3. By the way, the Golden State Warriors Big 3 played only 11 minutes which makes number two look much worse.
4. The Lakers rolled out their 40th different starting lineup this season behind the Brooklyn Nets, who have 43. But they are in the play-in tournament so look for Kevin Durant and LeBron James debates all summer.
5. The Lakers are the oldest team in the…oh man just forget it.    

It can’t be understated that the players on the floor played hard and outplayed a playoff-bound team through to the end of the third quarter. Sadly, the lead evaporated like the same sad and sorry excuses that have floated around this franchise the last few days.

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to show an entertaining dynamic of basketball without LeBron James running the offense by committee instead of emulating statues outside of Crypto.com Arena. However, the Golden State Warriors had more important things to worry about like the third seed going into the playoff and ran away with a 128-112 win. The Lakers have now lost eight straight games and their last chance for a win is on Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If they don’t, prayers are out that Nikola Jokic doesn’t play on Sunday.

But for now…

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:  

See this game perfectly illustrates why Lakers Nation has been critical of Talen Horton-Tucker!

TNT broadcaster, Reggie Miller said it all in this phrase alone…

“Where has this Talen Horton-Tucker been all season?”

To be fair, THT had to deal with a hand injury that required surgery and he had a bout with COVID-19 and never got into a rhythm this season. His inconsistent play really hurt the Lakers.

But this is the reason why the Lakers didn’t trade him for Kyle Lowry and gave him his extension in the offseason.

THT looked like he belonged by attacking the Warriors in the paint and setting the tone offensively for the Lakers. That layup seen above was not the only acrobatic shot he had in this game. The deer in the headlights look was gone and when this guy is comfortable, he can be very effective with the next offensive head coach that brings a system.

Horton Tucker finished with a career high 40 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals. He destroyed Golden State in the final quarter with 20 points.

Malik Monk is just so good at scoring the basketball… 

Lake Show Life was a little leery of his wild play in the last couple of games, especially in the Nuggets loss. But like THT, when he had room to operate, he put in that work too.

Lik’ Lik’ finished with 24 points 7 rebounds and 4 assists and 2 blocks.

Malik’s future going forward is going to be up for debate in the offseason. As of this point, the Lakers can’t afford him. It’s no secret that the team would love to keep Monk, but unless they are able to make some moves (Neon red sign: TRADE RUSSELL WESTBROOK!) to clear out some cap room, fans have a few more days to enjoy a free agent steal in 4K.

Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer:

"Expectations among league personnel polled by B/R for Monk’s next salary are quite varied but have ranged from an average annual value between $5 million and $10 million, far above the minimum number that the Lakers were able to sign him for this season."

Sure, if anyone really wants to believe that. This writer thinks that he will get more and his Lakers tenure ends on Sunday.

Checking Notes…Since Dwight Howard is the biggest rim protector on the roster and might be helpful!

Yes Lakers fans, there are a legion of people that believe Frank Vogel is being the scapegoat for all of the issues on the floor this season. Right, this is the coach that had this guy out of the rotation for DeAndre Jordan, LeBron James, Stanley Johnson and Carmelo Anthony to man the center spot.

Superman! (Sorry Shaq!) finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. He hit a 3 pointer too, so that unofficially makes him the most accurate shooter on the team at 8-13 for the season.

Now let’s sit back and see if he gets waived.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:  

Well, Klay Thompson can shoot!

Well, they say film don’t lie…

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1512290182476836870

Thompson dropped 23 of his 33 points in the first half. Despite Frank Vogel warning the team that the Warriors would feature him heavily throughout the game, it really didn’t matter. But his explosion was more team-related than the Lakers’ defense. More on that later.

Turnovers… 

The Los Angeles Lakers kept the Warriors around for three quarters with 18 turnovers. Stanley Johnson spearheaded the turnover brigade with six by himself.

The last four minutes of the third quarter…

Man the Lakers were neck and neck with Golden State up until the final four minutes of the third quarter. But a 13-3 to close it out finished the Lake Show’s chances.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:  

The difference between playoff teams and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The comment section has been set ablaze with debates on what went wrong with the Lakers and their playoff plans in Cancun to go fishing.

Like this one from Anthony Davis via Lakers Nation:

"“Like I said, when we put this team together, we had championship aspirations and once again, injuries got in the way of that,” he says.“I think we would love to see, I think the world would love to see, if we were healthy for the full 82. Now if that repeats next year and we have the same team, who knows. Like I said, we got to recap this season, what worked and what didn’t work and go from there.“But I truly think that we could’ve done something special but Bron and myself, mainly me, weren’t healthy for the entire season.”"

Okay, let’s talk about the essence of basketball and how playoff teams play with a culture and execution.

The Golden State Warriors had an absurd 39 assists to LA’s 14 assists. Why? Because of good habits going all the way back to the preseason putting together an offensive scheme.

• The Warriors played their veterans and worked hard on their habits that led to a good preseason record. The Lakers? Well, they will try to get their first win…next preseason.
• The Warriors ran off to an 18-2 record to start the season while the Lakers blew big leads against bad teams. 
• Hence when they played without Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Stephen Curry got injured, they could bank on all of the wins that they were expected to get. The Lakers? Well, there will be two more of these post games!

There’s a method to the Warriors’ madness. Steve Kerr has a game plan and expects his players to execute it no matter who is on the floor. Andre Iguodala exposed the Lakers three times on inbound plays alone on his way to seven assists.

Draymond Green had seven assists of his own while providing leadership while the Lakers were holding their own. Jordan Poole picked his spots in the offense scoring 19 points while collecting a career high 11 assists.

The point? They don’t rely on superstars to do all of the work.

The Lakers face their last chance of the embarrassing thought of finishing out the season on a losing streak Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.