Despite Jazz loss, Lakers fans can put the Russell Westbrook issue to bed

Break up the Los Angeles Lakers! After losing their first five games which deemed the narrative of many (Including this site!) believing the sky was falling on the season. But the Lakers have had a solid week taking some revenge on the Denver Nuggets Sunday and injected some excitement with an unlikely victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

The next opponent for the Lake Show on Friday night was the Utah Jazz, who is easily the most shocking story of the season. It was widely believed that the Jazz was going to tank for the number one pick when they traded Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. Instead of being at the bottom of the Western Conference, they were 6-3 coming into this one.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Utah Jazz 130-116 in another entertaining game. The Lakers get to travel to Utah to run it back on Monday just before voting day on Tuesday!

Get out and vote! It’s your right!

This Utah Jazz team is for real folks. Will Hardy is an outstanding coach who could easily win coach of the year. He’s that good. He has got a system implemented and the players are executing at a high level.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

We can all put this Russell Westbrook situation to bed! He’s fine!

To say this Russell Westbrook saga has been slightly interesting to irritating is putting it mildly. But now Russ is comfortable coming off the bench and now that he has, all parties involved are reaping the benefits…at least in the first quarter of this game….

Russ in the first quarter put up a stat line of 10 points 4 assists 1 steal +3 for Russ in only 7 mins!

The nod and wink could easily be directed at the one that thinks this guy should be traded on a daily basis, but hearing MVP….MVP…MVP does make this writer wonder about the night and day support of Lakers Nation. Russ led the Lakers with 28 points, 6 assists and 2 steals. The 29 minutes he tallied were not enough. More on that later!

While we are at it, let’s talk about the other guy that finished the alley-oop play!

Anthony Davis was hitting the Jazz with his own scoring mixtape early! 

Part of the Laker’s struggles against the New Orleans Pelicans was that Anthony Davis struggled early on the offensive end. Man, that was not the case against Utah. He was dunking all over the Jazz early. He had 14 points which included a rare 3-pointer. But the second half was a problem. More on that later!

The Lakers had yet another huge third-quarter run!

The Jazz was rolling coming out of halftime but the Lakers pulled close going into the final quarter with a 26-12 run. The third quarters are going to define this team’s season Lakers fans!

This writer wants to make an apology to Los Angeles Lakers fans that read Lake Show Life consistently!

Talen Horton-Tucker was traded to the Utah Jazz in the offseason for Patrick Beverley. Ronald Agers was a champion for THT throughout his career in Lakers purple and gold. One look at how out of shape Horton-Tucker was in this game showed that Rob Pelinka made yet another good decision. Wow! THT has started on his Oliver Miller diet and he does not look good.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Boy that defense in the first half!

Look this game was very entertaining from both ends because both teams shot the ball very well. But considering this is an analysis article for the Los Angeles Lakers…oh well.

The Utah Jazz was playing string music on the Lakers’ defense in the first half, particularly in the first 12 minutes. The Jazz shot 17-26 for 65.4 percent and gave the Lake Show 40 of them points.  The Lakers ended up giving up 75 points in the first half. Also, read…they didn’t stop nobody!

• Collin Sexton: 15 points on 6-7 shooting (Three shots from beyond the arc!)…finished with 17 points.
• Lauri Markkanen: 14 points on 5-10 shooting, 6 rebounds and 2 assists…finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds.
• Jordan Clarkson: 13 points on 6-10 shooting, 4 rebounds and 2 assists…finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds.
• Kelly Olynyk: 10 points on 4-5 shooting (Two shots from beyond the arc!)…finished with 18 points.

Everyone has their off nights, but the Lakers’ first 24 minutes will at least give Darvin Ham and the coaching staff some film for the next practice session!

LeBron James is sick…really sick!

This writer is not a doctor but he plays one on the Lake Show Life website. As a person who had to deal with 10-12 days with a non-COVID-related illness, it is plain to see that LeBron was not making excuses a few nights ago. Give him all the credit in the world for showing up to play but you can best believe he’ll be back in bed as soon as he gets home!

He finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and a sprained ankle. He has a 0-13 streak going from 3-point range.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss: 

Anthony Davis disappeared (Again!) in the second half on offense!

He had 20 points at the half and finished the game with 22 points. No more to elaborate on folks. It’s not like he was busy anchoring the defense.

This Patrick Beverley thing…

He’s killing the Lakers’ offense. No one wants to say it…cool. The Lakers are basically playing 4-5 with him on the floor on offense. Please don’t embarrass yourselves by looking in the box score and mentioning he scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting.

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Talen Horton Tucker scored 7 points counting the days to Thanksgiving as big as he is. There is no justification for Pat Bev being on the floor 28 minutes. Austin Reaves took one shot and two free throws. It’s going to be interesting when Dennis Schroder gets back.

But…everyone is on Russell Westbrook’s case?