LeBron James puts on a clinic to lead Lakers past Wizards without Anthony Davis
By Ronald Agers
The Los Angeles Lakers can’t seem to string together any good luck over the last few weeks. Since the Lake Show avoided certain doom with eight victories in ten games, they have been snake bitten as of late. The past two weeks sum up the Lakers’ month of December it seems.
- The Lakers nearly embarrassed the Philadelphia 76ers with a roaring comeback to tie the game and send it into overtime, but missed free throws would have won it in regulation!
- Then, they play out of their minds and nearly embarrass the Boston Celtics with a massive comeback to the point of easy victory before blowing a double-digit lead in the final four minutes to lose in overtime. Again, free throws would have won it in regulation!
- Then the Lakers smoke the Denver Nuggets like a pack of Kools on Friday while dominating the two-time NBA MVP on the offensive end of the floor. But…Anthony Davis gets injured in the second quarter!
- Thomas Bryant fills in admirably for the second half but…
- Anthony Davis is out for a number of weeks!
All of this wildness in a season and we haven’t seen Christmas yet! Amazing isn’t it?
The Los Angeles Lakers welcomed the Washington Wizards with some California love on Sunday night. While one superstar was absent with injury, another one was returning from one of his own. Bradley Beal played his first game since the last time these two teams played on December 4th after being out with a hamstring injury.
In yet another game that almost went to overtime against a Washington Wizards team that can’t stop light from lack of payment on the bill to Con Edison…
The Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the Wizards 119-117 in one of the more ridiculous finishes in Lakers history. This really should have been a blowout because the Wizards played the worst overall defense in franchise history.
Shout out to the Washington Wizards writers at Wiz of Awes. They have to cover that debacle for 82 games!
The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:
Daniel Gafford got hurt!
We know what you are thinking. Who? Well, that is the only Wizards big man that is tough and skilled enough to even get the Lakers to form the thought of possible rim protection. Kristaps Porzingis? PFFT! Please! After Gafford turned his ankle and left the game, the floodgates opened and the Lakers started practicing shootaround alley-oops all through the second quarter!
The game was close after one quarter and then there was absolutely no defensive resistance as the Lakers ended the quarter on a 9-3 run to outscore Washington 36-23. Folks, the Wizards with the exception of Bradley Beal are a nightmare to watch.
Welcome back Lonnie Walker IV…we missed you!
Walker was in a slump for the past few games, but he looked really good aggressively looking for his shot. He had 13 points on 4-5 shooting to support LeBron James and was very smooth doing it. This stretch with AD out will be very important for Walker IV and the Lakers. He has got to start figuring out how to get his shots in the flow of the offense no matter if AD is in the lineup or not. He can’t just stand out behind the 3-point line and shoot every 15 minutes.
He finished with 21 points on 7-12 shooting. Now the Lakers have to get more than 3 rebounds and one assist. Scoring won’t be enough against elite teams.
Austin Reaves started a game and Patrick Beverley wasn’t in the lineup!
Austin Reaves scored 12 points on a bad ankle and missed only one shot in the game…period. Patrick Beverley got on Bradley Beal’s nerves, woke him up and Beal went crazy in the second half and led a Wizards comeback with 29 points.
Look folks, the staff of Lake Show Life gets that Patrick Beverley needs to be traded, but you have to ask yourself these questions?
- If Lakers Nation knows this guy is a disaster shooting the ball, is overrated on defense, gets into stupid situations to hurt the team and is an outright liability when he shoots, more likely than not the other 29 teams know too. They have cable.
- To get rid of this guy, the Lakers would have to give up some first-round picks just to get a GM to pick up the phone! See they have to buy their kids the G.I. Joe with the Kung Fu grip too!
- Finally…will the Lakers just buy him out or basically tell Lakers Nation to get over it?
But he did help Austin back to the locker room though.
The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:
As if you didn’t know…Anthony Davis is out for an extended period of time. Copy and paste this statement for at least a month. The staff of Lake Show Life thinks it will be six weeks or 30 games, whichever comes first!
Now things start to get really ugly!
Austin Reaves AND Lonnie Walker IV turn their ankles in the game!
Reaves turns his ankle early and went back to the locker room. Then Lonnie turns his ankle in the 4th quarter! Folks, those Kobe shoes and other mid-level shoes are nice! But as former NBA player, Eddie Johnson says…”Better stop wearing those bedroom slippers!” Ankle support is important.
Major props to both players because they were both on the floor at the end of the game!
The third quarter!
Anyone that is a Lakers fan or reads these post-game reports already knows this. Why waste words? 36-21, advantage Wizards and the lead evaporated.
The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:
LeBron James was the best player on the floor!
This is not saying much considering the Wizards are just so bad defensively. Think we are lying? Just press play!
LeBron finished with 33 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. He also had zero turnovers in the game. His potential first one would have been a doozy wouldn’t it have been?
Phoenix Suns come to play on Monday night.