Darvin Ham’s Russell Westbrook mistake fueled Lakers loss to Pacers

It looks like the Los Angeles Lakers are becoming the team of streaks. Not only are they riding a two-game winning streak after beating the San Antonio Spurs on a two-game mini-road trip, but they are also riding a three-game home winning streak. A Monday night matchup against the Indiana Pacers would allow the Lake Show to add to both streaks while climbing back into contention for the play-in situation after being in the Western Conference cellar.

The Los Angeles Lakers seriously let one get away from the Indiana Pacers to lose 116-115 at the buzzer. After two games of slippage on defense in Texas, the Lakers really locked up the Pacers until ten minutes left in the game.

The early headlines started with Bennedict Mathurin who stated that LeBron James had something to prove to see if he was better than him…

"“A lot of people say he’s great,” Mathurin said previously. “I want to see how great he is. I don’t think anybody is better than me. He’s going to have to show me he’s better than me.”"

Naturally, everyone took this quote out of context to the point that he backtracked and called LeBron the best to ever play the game. Totally ridiculous, like he’s supposed to say he has no chance to compete against James. This is basketball folks.

Mathurin can play though… he finished with 23 points and 8 rebounds. But let’s start here: the Lakers’ bad habits from San Antonio travel with the team on flights too!

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1597471221276299265

This one was bad, Lakers fans. Save that “It’s just one game” garbage. There are big boys coming up on the schedule. All over .500.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

LeBron James and Anthony Davis FINALLY dominated at the same time and in the same game!

Over the last couple of seasons after the championship in the bubble, Lakers fans have seen too many times that Anthony Davis and LeBron James can take over a game by themselves. But what the staff and readers of Lake Show Life want to see is the duo dominate at the same time. For the first time this season, it happened in the first half with spectacular results.

LeBron James got things rolling early scoring the first seven points of the game. Usually a hot, start by LeBron messes with AD’s rhythm and aggressiveness. That wasn’t the case as Davis finished the first half with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks. LeBron allowed the transition of the first option to go to AD finishing with 14 points.

They also collaborated on this very nice-looking alley-oop in the second quarter…

• Anthony Davis: 25 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks.
• LeBron James: 21 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. 

But this domination was in the first half and NOT in crunch time.

The Los Angeles Lakers bench will be something to be reckoned with! 

In a game that was as uneasy as this one, bench production is a very important resource for NBA teams. The Lakers bench definitely illustrates this point in this game. While LeBron James and Anthony Davis will catch the headlines for this game, it was the bench that did the dirty work to keep the Lakers in front of the Indiana Pacers.

Just look at the list of bench players that contributed to the cause…

• Russell Westbrook: 24 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. 
• Austin Reaves: 13 points, 2 rebounds and one assists This guy is lighting up the NBA from the free throw line at 92 percent. That’s third in the NBA and in Stephen Curry’s neighborhood. 
• Wenyen Gabriel: His stats won’t bowl you over but fans that watch the game know how hard this guy works in the paint.

The Los Angeles Lakers actually did not bomb in the third quarter!

This quarter will gauge the Lakers season folks. They outscored the Pacers 31-28 and maintained their lead by locking up their opponent on the defensive end. Indiana went ice cold for about five minutes of the third quarter missing time after time from beyond the arc. Maybe the Lakers lost track of time because they weren’t that good in the final quarter. More on that later.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Sadly, this game was not about basketball but about trade rumors that make absolutely no sense.

The one irritating thing about covering this team is that no one (Outside of Darvin Ham and the coaching staff and a few others!) focuses on the here and now of the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s all about trade rumors and getting Russell Westbrook out of town.

This writer said as far back as the last trade deadline that Russ was going nowhere. It didn’t stop the ridiculous rumors concerning Kyrie Irving and other trade scenarios. Now it’s all about Buddy Hield and Myles Turner, who coincidentally played in this game.

So Ronald Agers calmly enjoyed his summer watching others write nonsense while ESPN eradicated every scenario in this segment…

The Los Angeles Lakers were in no danger of making a deal. Why do you think they threw up that 20-game timeline? Why doesn’t a trade with the Indiana Pacers make sense? Well let’s talk basketball, shall we?

Tyrese Haliburton is the Indiana Pacers’ point guard!

When the Sacramento Kings traded Haliburton last season, the NBA was completely shocked. Team executives, the media and fans alike just chalked it up to the Kings not having a clue about running a franchise. But this guy can play and will be a major part of Indiana’s future. In the second quarter, Haliburton was carving up the Lakers’ defense and dropping 3-point shots.

The Indiana Pacers are going to make sure Tyrese Haliburton gets as much time as possible to develop. They will not allow anything to mess with that. Russ would come in trying to play for his next contract and that might mess up chemistry. Not going to happen.

Haliburton finished with 24 points and 14 assists (Including the game-winning one!) and 7 rebounds.

Well, that fourth-quarter thing…

The Lakers blew a 17-point lead. Let’s skip this and get to the good stuff…the blame!

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:

Darvin Ham blew this one…

Let’s all take a look at this highlight right here!

Soon after this play, Russ was on the bench. This cannot happen! Russ was on a roll and had the arena ROCKING! As soon as Westbrook left, the Pacers went on a 10-0 run and got back in the game. By the time Russ got back the house was on fire and the Pacers stole a game from the Lakers much like the Lakers did from the New Orleans Pelicans.

Anthony Davis…

Two shots in the fourth quarter. Missed a free throw late.

LeBron James…

Is awful on defense. Look, NBA players hit shots at the buzzer, but when was the last time that this dude even tried making a defensive rotation?

Former draft pick yet again reminds Lakers of their horrible mistake

The Los Angeles Lakers made a horrible mistake trade Ivica Zubac and he continues to remind the team of that nearly four tears later.

This one is going to hurt.