Roundup is back after a brief hiatus. The Lakers shook off the ugly loss against Dallas to open up the month of December. Last week, the Lakers made it known that the tough schedule wouldn't do them in. They notched road wins at Denver, at Utah, and at Portland. Arguably three of the most hostile environments and the Lakers shut out the decibels from those arenas. They had a brief home stint against Minnesota, but they were surprisingly in a shootout. But they pulled it off with AD's career night, dropping 50 points. Now, the Lakers are on the road again, putting the streak of wins outside Staples Center on the line once more. Their destination the past week? The South East: Florida and Georgia.
12/11: @ Orlando 96-87 [W] (22-3)
Orlando had the Lakers' number last year, there's no denying that. Now, that the Lakers have upgraded their talent, let's see what the Magic, a fringe playoff team last year can do now. Fair enough, they were missing a few bodies, Nikola Vucevic particularly. Even if Rondo and Kuz aren't playing this game, the Lakers still outmatch the Magic in talent. And it showed with a 26-9 shellacking in the first quarter and the Lakers didn't look back. Well, only for the first half. It's fair to say, the Lakers intentionally wanted to make things interesting by letting the Magic creep back in. Poor 3-point shooting and turnovers prevented the Lakers from attaining complete domination. Luckily enough, KCP and Jared Dudley (before he got ejected by backing up Dwight against Mo Bamba and Wes Iwundu) with their 3-point shooting down the stretch.
12/13: @ Miami 113-110 [W] (23-3)
This and Thursday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks to end the road trip are arguably the Lakers' biggest test on the this road stretch. Streaks were on the line this game as the Lakers leveraged their 12-game road winning streak vs. the Heat's 11-game home winning streak. Miami has been an unkind place for the Lakers in the last decade, but the purple and gold have turned things around as of late. This game was a slugfest as expected. LeBron and AD had their off night in Disney World, but there was no off day in South Beach as they combined for 61 points. Though, the only blemish on LeBron was his 8 turnovers. He struggled handling the ball as Miami's D made it rough with their quick hands and zone defense. But, rebounding proved to be their undoing, especially in the final seconds. Despite KCP's 50% conversion from the free throw line after Kendrick Nunn's 3-pointer to cut the lead to one and end the Heat's 11-0 start at home. The final play though, there was a lot of contact between LeBron and Jimmy Butler. The NBA's report acknowledged there should've been a foul call on there. We'll take the victory though.
12/15: @ Atlanta 101-96 [W] (24-3)
It's always gotta be testy in Atlanta. If the Falcons can come back against the mighty 49ers, I'm sure the Hawks can upset the Lakers. NOPE! Despite the Hawks being competitive, they still find ways to choke down the stretch. You got Trae Young pulling up from deep and clanking. Despite the not so dominant win, the Lakers still managed to put up some highlight reels to wow the crowd even against themselves. I'm looking at the play where Rondo faked an alley oop to LeBron and LeBron faked the chase down block afterwards. It would've made it on Shaqtin' if the block was made. Superman was in the building for only two points with a Dwight dunk off the between the legs bounce pass from LeBron. Despite the close games, the Lakers had all the confidence in the world that they're unstoppable. The wins and all are good, but honestly, it's not a good look if they continue to play down to their level of competition. Confidence is good and all, but too much confidence? Anyway, wins are wins.
No comments:
Post a Comment