The most anticipated Christmas Day matchup is upon us. Last year, the Lakers took the Warriors to the limit in all four games. Talent disparity was the Lakers' downfall as they couldn't close out the Warriors at home twice in regulation. At Oracle? Much different story, but same result. With the addition of LeBron James, the man who got swept in the finals, there's nothing but revenge here. This is a test for the Lakers that they can dethrone the Warriors. But before we get into that, there's no denying that the Lakers have had their share of struggles as of late. The trade talk of Anthony Davis is heating up. LeBron's patience meter is, well, close to below zero. Drama and the bright lights of Los Angeles go hand-in-hand. One cannot separate from the other. Let's see how the Lakers' fare in the past week in the latest Lakers' Weekly Roundup.
12/18: @ Brooklyn 110-115 [L] (18-13)
HIGHLIGHTS
One year ago, the Lakers made a shocking trade that sent their then-rising star D'Angelo Russell and overpaid Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and a 1st round pick. So far, it has worked out well for both teams, but it looked like the Lakers got the better end of a deal. Timofey Mozgov had to be unloaded. $68 million for a guy who hasn't played much is by all accounts wasted salary. At the cost of one of the promising young cores, the Lakers shed much-needed cap space and got three young players for the price of one. This trade in particular helped the Lakers land a steal and a stud in Kyle Kuzma to go along with Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart. Since then, two teams were going opposite directions. The Lakers secured the services of LeBron to put the Lakers back into conversation among the elite and the Nets were still in purgatory with a whole lot of unknowns. But to this point of this game, the Nets were riding a 5-game winning streak.
This spelled "trap game" for the Lakers like two nights before against the Wizards. And hook, line, and sinker, the Nets set up the surprise attack. The Lakers did all they can behind valiant efforts from LeBron, Zo, and Kuz. Lonzo Ball had a nice game with 23 points and an efficient 9-16 shooting and 5-9 from three-point territory. Too bad this effort was wasted on a loss and this kind of stat line from Zo is once in a blue moon. The major difference for the Nets was their bench and the former Laker who was to receive the keys to the franchise, D'Angelo Russell. D'Lo netted 22 points and a career-high 13 assists. Perhaps the most daunting observation was that Zo wasn't even matched up against him. D'Lo was defended by Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma and he put them on roller skates. As the Lakers rallied, D'Lo rallied the Nets, taking over the game as a scorer and facilitator of the offense. We can blame Magic and Rob as they had the final say, but let's not forget who the real culprit of the Lakers was when they were forced to trade D'Angelo. It was the offseason idiocy of the Lakers' previous regime that got D'Angelo traded. Timofey Mozgov $68 million. Luol Deng $72 million. One of the worst tandem of free agent acquisitions ever! I know it's been one year now and by all accounts, we've gotten over D'Angelo Russell. The phone snitching incident was a thing of the past. Yet, good to see "RussellMania" succeed elsewhere. What could've been with a Zo-D'Lo backcourt.
12/21: vs. New Orleans 104-112 [W] (19-13)
HIGHLIGHTS
We've heard all this before about trading for a star player in his prime to come to the Lakers. It hasn't happened yet. The latest of the talks, Anthony Davis. Let's connect the dots here, Anthony Davis is signed to the same sports agency as LeBron James. The addition of Davis would give the Lakers a franchise-altering star big man since Shaquille O'Neal. But of course, there are hurdles as the small market GMs came out of the woodwork to cry wolf on the Lakers and LeBron that they're tampering with AD. I mean seriously, LeBron just commented that him pairing up with AD would be "amazing." How the hell can that be tampering?
Onto this game, this was pretty much the Lakers' audition for the AD to LA hype train. The good news about this game is the return of Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo. The Lakers did all they could with a short-handed roster and it did experience some success. But since JaVale McGee contacted pneumonia, the Lakers' depth suffered even more. It was a sight for sore eyes to have SlenderIngram and Playoff Rondo back as they made quite an impact. B.I. is back to provide some length and another scoring option. Rondo restored order to the bench, but that also means Zo is back on the leash. JaVale McGee missed this game as well, but a forgotten man has stepped up: Ivica Zubac. Zubacalypse was back from the dead as he was the recipient of many passes from LeBron, Rondo, and Zo off pick and roll situations. He held his own against the likes of AD and another former-Laker in Julius Randle. Last year, Randle probably bullied Zubac inside and Zubac hasn't forgotten that as he made a key block on Randle late in the game. After this game, will that be a yes or a no AD? This talk escalated further when LeBron and AD had a postgame dinner after this game. That's another fine on the Lakers for "tampering."
12/23: vs. Memphis 107-99 [L] (19-14)
HIGHLIGHTS
In the first meeting between the two, the Lakers put a curbstomping against the Grizzlies in Memphis. After this game, that seemed like a distant memory. I'll give the benefit of a doubt, the Lakers were super thin in the front court without JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler, so we get to see extended action of Zubac and Mo Wagner. Zubac more action definitely. But despite the Lakers' rally, they couldn't extend the Grizzlies' 5-game losing skid. I didn't see this much of the game, but my goodness, Lonzo Ball had a trainwreck of a game last night. It's absolutely bad when he finishes 0-7 from beyond the arc and he throws a bullet pass over the first row in the stands. In fact, some of those misses were in crucial moments when the Lakers needed a bucket to stay alive. Don't get me wrong, I love that he's shooting it, but my goodness, drive to the hoop goddammit to get yourself going! We want to see aggressive Zo, not passive Zo who looks like he doesn't give a crap about the game.
After this skid, the readiness against the Warriors has significantly drop. Too much inconsistency. Free throws are still bad in particular. However, they are a bit short-handed and I expect to see them at full strength. Although, I'm not sure about JaVale McGee though. He just got out of the hospital after being contacted with pneumonia. It'll be unfortunate that he's going to possibly miss out on this revenge game since he's still recovering. Tomorrow night, it's going down on Christmas against the defending champs here in the Bay Area. And for my present? Open Thread and Full Recap is back for this particular game. See y'all tomorrow.
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