LeBron James’ immobility is a concern after Lakers win over T-Wolves

The staff of Lake Show Life is retiring the term “This is a must-win game for the Los Angeles Lakers”. There are less than two weeks in the NBA season, and the Western Conference is so tight mainstream media is starting to look ridiculous with their predictions. The Lake Show are stuck in the Play-In Tournament taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are looking to get out of the play-in tournament (For like 24 hours?) and get to the sixth seed.

The Lakers, fresh off avenging the NBA’s meaningless story of “Pat-Bev gate”…

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1641264992635977729

…truly had to win this game not just for seeding purposes, but for tiebreaker scenarios. Bottom line, at the end of the season there will be a lot of NBA teams in both conferences tied record-wise with analysts trying to explain why a team is out of the playoff seeding or out of the postseason.

In a very well-contested game between both teams, the Los Angeles Lakers walked in and beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 123-111. Win, lose, or draw, this was one of the better games for the Los Angeles Lakers all year long. There was a combination of balanced offense (In the second half!), solid defense and something that gets missing from time to time with this team…MENTAL TOUGHNESS!

With Oklahoma City Thunder losing to the Indiana Pacers

…and

The Utah Jazz getting beat by the Boston Celtics…

The play-in tournament is looking more solid for the Lakers and a loss or two won’t be catastrophic.

The good of the Los Angeles Lakers win:

Anthony Davis…really…really tried!

This is on the offensive end folks because there is much more to talk about with his defense. His offense started out aggressive and after staying in the game after injuring his ankle to help his team…

There will be click bait articles discussing Anthony Davis’ contract and if he will be traded. Not from this writer. The man deserves to be paid and if the Los Angeles Lakers start shortchanging him, there won’t be a high-profile free agent to breathe on a contract. Kind of like the 2016 offseason.

AD finished with 38 points, 17 rebounds (8 offensive!) and 2 blocks. Amazing…impressive and tough. Goodbye “Street Clothes” nickname…hello “This dude is a monster!”

The third quarter…

Remember back in the days when this was the quarter that the Lakers were awful and lost games? Well, not in this one. The Lakers rolled over the Wolves to the tune of 35-18. They locked Minnesota up on the defensive end and bamboozled them on the offensive end.

The Lakers starting ball handlers made plays…

• LeBron James: 18 points, 10 rebounds 6 assists and 2 blocks.
• D’Angelo Russell: 12 points, 10 assists and 2 steals.
• Austin Reaves: 15 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.

Doesn’t seem like a sexy stat line individually but add all of these stats between these three and you have playoff-ready production.

Darvin Ham made some serious adjustments at halftime!

Even though this writer wasn’t happy about Malik Beasley getting a front-row seat to watch the majority of the game after dropping three shots from long distance, the analyst knows it was the right call. Minnesota was getting every shot they wanted and Beasley was the weak link. Rui Hachimura did not show a lot in the box score, but he did plenty on the defensive end in the second half to turn the game around.

Anthony Edwards was bad!

If this guy had played subpar, the Timberwolves might have had a chance. He blew open shots, layups, free throws…you name it. This was the game folks if you are a Minnesota fan.

The bad of the Los Angeles Lakers win:

LeBron James can’t move. Nobody else wants to point it out so leave it to Lake Show Life!

Given the fact that LeBron James is even out there trying with reports of a torn tendon in his foot says a lot. He has heart, he is being a leader and he is not letting go of the rope because he accomplished the ultimate goal of passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring record. All respect due for this.

Now let’s get to reality.

Can he use his experience to get the Lakers buckets and make plays for his teammates? Sure. The problem is the media hands casuals the narrative that this guy is going to hand out 30-point games like its charity and the Lakers will make a deep playoff run.

It seems no one ever talks about the defense…

Oh yes…LeBron James getting dunked on by this guy Jaden McDaniels too. We just couldn’t find the video. Speaking of Lakers superstars getting cooked…

Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns were looking like the Twin Towers in the first half!

It’s no secret that AD struggles at times banging against big men that have weight on them. The Chicago Bulls back-to-back showed everyone that.

When Andre Drummond played, AD was on a milk carton. When he sat out Wednesday, low and behold, Davis goes for 38 and 10. Coincidence? PFFT!

Rudy Gobert was 6-7 from the field for 14 points and Karl Anthony Towns was 5-7 for another 14 points. Now this is the first half and adjustments were made. However, the playoffs are a different animal and the Lakers struggled big time in the first half with the pick-and-roll on defense.

AD’s ankle…

This game bought some time for the Lakers to make some decisions, but those ankle injuries hurt.

The story of the Los Angeles Lakers win:

Patrick Beverley did the Los Angeles Lakers a solid!

Sure, everyone got a laugh at LeBron James’ expense on Sunday with the “too small” gesture…

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1640110010364723200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1640110010364723200%7Ctwgr%5E4875e1d8a61af9fb002111d657a5d30c1d39f0c0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flakeshowlife.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D140367action%3Dedit

But it woke the Lakers up. For the last two games, their opponents being the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves have suffered beatdowns. For the first time all season long, the Lake Show now looks like they have a killer instinct and are willing to destroy the spirit of teams just dumping the ball to Anthony Davis and letting him go to work.

Don’t look for any more clunkers to finish the season.