Bumpy Road Trip: Lakers Fall to Knicks Sunday; Heat Tuesday

Usually, I'd just quick recap these games, but I'm going to do something a little different if I were to miss on quick recapping Laker games that are not nationally televised. I originally was scheduled to post the game vs. the Knicks after the Raiders-Steelers game, but I didn't and that's on my part and missed out yesterday because I had college work to turn in before midnight. But I looked at the highlights of both the Knicks and Heat games today and I'll just give out quick little thoughts.

@ Knicks

So, the Lakers got their first win against another lowly team in the Brooklyn Nets Friday night and they looked to tack on another against the Knicks in the Big Apple. Surprisingly, the Knicks have done pretty decent to start off the season and rookie, Kristaps Porzingis has prove Knicks fans wrong ever since they booed the pick in the 2015 NBA draft. Of course, the major headline here is Kobe Bryant in what could be his final visit to Madison Square Garden. The Garden crowd was just anxious every time Kobe had the ball because they wanted to see him shoot. They don't care if he hits his shots or misses, they were just anxious when the ball was in his hands. For the most part, it was a dog fight in the 1st and early part of the 2nd quarter, then the Lakers gained control late in the 2nd and the majority of the 3rd. So, things were going pretty good for the Lakers, until the 4th quarter hit. The Knicks rallied in the end and the Lakers were missing shots to cut the deficit against the Knicks and it was already too little too late as they fell to the Knicks 95-99. Nonetheless, Kobe Bryant finished up with 18 points and of course, shot 6-19 from the field, which is an awful percentage on the stats sheet.

@ Heat

Here, in the game against the Heat last night, Byron Scott allowed Kobe to rest because they play the Magic today in back-to-back sets and unlike the Knicks game, the Heat thoroughly had control for three quarters. The 2nd quarter was the only entertaining quarter, but other than that, the Heat put the game on ice in the 2nd half. Chris Bosh had a career day for the Heat against the Lakers with 30 points and 11 rebounds and Hassan Whiteside had 19 points and 15 rebounds. Not one Laker reached double figure in the rebounding stat line for this game as they lost to the Heat 88-101.

Takeaways

Some patterns to takeaway from these two games, D'Angelo Russell has struggled since dropping 16 points against Brooklyn on Friday night: 6 points on 3-7 shooting against the Knicks and 4 points on 2-6 shooting against the Heat. I'm not going to say, he's a point blank "bust," but he's going through the process of growing pains as a rookie and that is a repercussion us Laker fans have to deal with. We wanted this guy over Okafor, this is the price we're going to pay and we have to be patient in Russell's developing process. One positive I can say about both these game is that Metta World Peace looked good these games. He was still able to lock down Carmelo Anthony is defensive situations vs. the Knicks and I'll admit, he shot better in these two games than he has in his entire first stint with the Lakers. MWP is still awesome though. But in conclusion, 1-5 is not a pleasant start for Laker standards. We know this team is lost in limbo between the past, present, and future, and Byron Scott, well, let's not mention Byron Scott. I know I endorsed the hire last season, but I'm eating my words. The Lakers get the Magic today and I'll try to quick recap that as soon as the game is over. I'll see you guys later.