Lakers lose to Blazers, remain winless thanks to Russell Westbrook

The Los Angeles Lakers were at home for a Sunday matinee against the up-and-coming Portland Trail Blazers. The winless Lakers were in an early must-win situation with a 0-2 record after losses to the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers.

This game is interesting because last year’s loss to the Blazers is when the Russell Westbrook saga officially started as far as this writer is concerned. The Lakers played Portland on the road the night before last year’s trade deadline. The Blazers had traded away C.J. McCollum, shut down the starters and went fully into tank mode.

Russ was benched in case a deal was made. Even with LeBron and AD in the lineup, the Lakers lost. The season spiraled out of control and the mistrust, division and chaos that we are all witnessing now became the norm.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 106-104 to fall to 0-3 on the season. The record is ugly but for the first time in 15 months, Lake Show Life can actually see a plan, some improvement and something to actually analyze. To start…

• The Los Angeles Lakers have an offensive system that defenses have to pay attention to.
• LeBron James is orchestrating the offensive system to perfection which is more important than the last point.
• Anthony Davis was Anthony Davis.

This team is in trouble folks. The road trip is brutal and if they can’t get some of these games on the road, 0 for the foreseeable future is not out of the question.

• Denver Nuggets on Wednesday
• Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday
• Denver Nuggets AGAIN on Sunday a week from today!
• The much-improved New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.

We could on, but this was one of the games the Los Angeles Lakers were supposed to win but did not.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss: 

Anthony Davis destroyed the Blazers’ front line!

In the first two games, the staff of Lake Show Life has made it clear that Anthony Davis has to be the most dominant player on the roster for this team to win. This is not about supportive stats that look good in the box score, but putting a hurting on the opponent.

Example…

What Anthony Davis did to Jusuf Nurkic in this game was a case of basketball abuse. He made a big center look soft, ineffective and basically sad. Is Nurkic out of shape? Who cares! But if he’s not, this game will affect the Portland big man for years.

What was even more impressive for AD was he really cranked up the pressure in the third quarter when LeBron went to the bench. The Lakers have to get this from AD for this team to tread water.

Let’s compare the numbers, shall we?

• Anthony Davis: 22 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocks, 3 assists and 2 steals.
• Drew Eubanks: 4 points and 3 rebounds.
• Jusuf Nurkic: 6 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists.

This would have been the ball game folks!

The Lakers won the third quarter!

The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t just lose the third quarter in the previous two games, they got destroyed in the third quarter. Behind AD’s activity and great defense causing turnovers, the Lakers outscored the Blazers 35-23.

Defense!

Bottle this up and hand it out before every game for the rest of the season. Outstanding.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss: 

Man that Damian Lillard…can shoot that thang!

If you are a real basketball fan or a shooting aficionado, this is a very good thing because his game is beautiful to watch. But this is a Los Angeles Lakers website and it happened with them on the court. Dame Dolla started the game missing his first four shots and then he went to work!

He hit his last six shots to finish the quarter and had 21 points in the first half…

The only good thing that happened for the Lake Show is that he picked up three fouls.

He scored 41 in the previous game so the old Dame is back and we all had better put respect on his name!

More on him later!

The Los Angeles Lakers’ first-half 3-point shooting!

1-16…The Lake Show Life website staff cannot explain why this team can’t shoot from the land of the extra point. 6-33 for the game will add up to a lot of losses.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Let’s take care of the obvious…

This dude is just an all-time great scorer. 41 more points. Sometimes you have to shake a man’s hand!

LeBron James is earning his money and the Lakers fanbase should enjoy what he is doing! 

This is not about the last shot he missed. If that is the focus of the reader, you want the man to fail. Bottom line, he is playing in Darvin Ham’s schemes to perfection on both ends of the floor.

He could easily go back to dominating the ball much like he did when he ignored Luke Walton or had no choice under Frank Vogel. He passes, he cuts, he gets to his spots on the floor and takes what the defense gives him.

He is playing basketball much better than last year. He is allowing himself to be coached and this site will celebrate it. He finished with 31 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.

Russell Westbrook cost the Lakers in the final minutes. 

No one is rooting for Russell Westbrook more than Ronald Agers. The franchise and the fanbase have sold him out. Now, with that being said, this was the worst two minutes of Russ in a Lakers uniform and that is saying something.

• There was an offensive set when he did not know the play and where he was supposed to be. What is this man thinking? He wants the point but doesn’t know the play in a crucial situation?
• He missed a 10-footer with the Lakers up one with NO ONE under the rim to rebound!
• His body language stinks.

2 former Lakers thriving makes Rob Pelinka’s mistakes hurt even more

These former Lakers are thriving thus far this season, making Rob Pelinka's mistakes even more painful for fans to handle.

Bench him or send him away after Moe Harkless is signed!