Lakers ride LeBron to win over Rockets while Westbrook makes a scene

Whatever momentum the Los Angeles Lakers had at the end of 2022 into the new year has pretty much dried up with their three-game losing streak coming into this matchup against the Houston Rockets. Sometimes social media can be irritating, but the Lakers fans that got on Russell Westbrook in this scene may have seen something the staff of Lake Show Life didn’t.

Man since that greedy conversation commenced, the Los Angeles Lakers lost three straight games to the Nuggets, the Mavericks and the Sixers. Life really comes at you fast in the NBA. Enjoy the good times because in the last couple of seasons, they have come far in between in L.A.

But luckily, their opponent was the Houston Rockets, who were riding (Or sinking…make that drowning!) a ten-game losing streak. The Lake Show really needed to win this game or the “Lottery Pick” discussions for Victor Wembanyama would commence…for the New Orleans Pelicans!

In a game where most of the sports nation was fixated on the NFC Wild Card game, for a while it looked like the players in this game wanted to watch the game too. This was one of those games that had contractual obligations written all over it. But in the end, the Los Angeles Lakers held on to defeat the Houston Rockets 140-132 in a game that shouldn’t have been close.

But desperate can’t be choosy.

The Lakers snapped the three-game losing streak with Sacramento coming to town on Wednesday.

This writer would like to personally thank LeBron James for making a game that could cure insomnia actually watchable.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win: 

The Los Angeles Lakers played the Houston Rockets!

Oh my goodness the Houston Rockets are bad! Sometimes, it could be bad luck or just hitting a wall in the NBA season. Not this crew. They looked like the Washington Generals reincarnated with absolutely no concept of even trying to play defense as LeBron James illustrates here…

The Lakers really needed an easy night and the Rockets players were happy to oblige for 24 minutes. With five games coming up in seven day period, LeBron and the crew needed to relax and enjoy laugher! But that did not happen. More on that later. Speaking of LeBron James…

LeBron James (Outside of his 3-point issues!) is shooting quite well these days!

With the exception of that 9-28 performance against Dallas, LeBron James is shooting a very high percentage inside the arc. After a 15-23 shooting performance against Philly to the tune of 35 points, the beat went on in the first half against Houston. He had 18 points on 7-11 shooting before halftime while not overtaxing his body.

But instead of putting the Rockets away, LeBron had to bail them out with 20 fourth-quarter points. Stay tuned for the story…what else is there to talk about?

Dollar General Stephen Curry aka Patrick Beverley is BACK! 

The one thing we all know is that Patrick Beverley has donated many a brick to NBA cities around the country this season. However slowly but surely, he has improved over the last month. He knocked down a 3-pointer to open the game and extended that to three by halftime. If you don’t think this is a big deal, you haven’t been watching Lakers basketball.

There were times this season, he didn’t hit three shots behind the arc for a week. Pat Bev finished with 11 points. He was the only starter other than LeBron to hit double figures.

The Lakers took care of the ball…

Two turnovers and Russ had zero.

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win: 

Alpen Sengun handed out business cards to the Los Angeles Lakers…

There was big news out of Lakerland about the Lakers working out two big men in Demarcus Cousins and Meyers Leonard. All that brought was complaints on why this was happening as opposed to finding some shooters.

This might be a reason.

Sengun destroyed the Lakers’ frontline in every which way a basketball player can on a court. What was even more impressive was that the Rockets’ guards looked like they couldn’t run an NBA offensive set if they watched a YouTube video. He held things down while the rest of his teammates decided to contribute in the second half. Speaking of the second half…

The third quarter… 

Is this worth discussing considering that this drop-off happens almost every game? 37-29 to let the Rockets back in the game and make LeBron actually work in the final quarter.

The defense is starting to get worse…

Film don’t lie!

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win: 

Man that Max Christie kid…Just kidding…LeBron James!

LeBron James dropped a season-high 48 points with 8 rebounds and 9 assists. Thanks to his teammates blowing leads on the regular when he sits, he had to actually close out this game scoring 20 points in the final quarter.

As much credit as he deserves for bailing the Lakers when the Rockets cut the lead to three points, it boggles the mind why Houston didn’t double a guy that is going to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the all-time scoring list? Actually, it doesn’t…Victor Wembanyama.

He has now scored 40 points on every team except one…the Los Angeles Clippers.

Watch out for a possible explosion from Russ if there is another long losing streak…

Really Russ?

24 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists don’t justify this. Even if there is an issue, take it to the locker room. Something is off in that locker room Lakers fans…something is off