After a somewhat disappointing 112-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers easily prevailed in their second game. This one was (technically) their home opener, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis taking charge of the night to the tune of a 95-86 win (which was way more of a beat-down than that score suggests).
Active Defense for the Lakers
The entire team showed up on the defensive end tonight, resulting in the Jazz shooting 41.4% from the field, even holding the team to 17 and 18 points in the first and third quarters, respectively.
Danny Green led the charge on the perimeter being a disruptor in pick-and-rolls, with Avery Bradley and Troy Daniels contributing some active hands as well. While Anthony Davis wasn’t letting anything come easy around the rim. It’s been pointed out that Frank Vogel is a defensive-minded coach, and he seems to have a good one on his hands here in L.A.
Offense was somewhat stagnant at times, with another dud from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Although the Lakers were ahead for most of this game, the offense wasn’t always following the defense in being consistent throughout. The defense was lackluster at times, especially in the 2nd quarter. The person leading the poor effort was, again, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who puts up another bad game tonight.
KCP missed all six of his field-goal attempts and recorded three personal fouls in 20 minutes of play. This brings him to 0-for-9 from the field (0-for-4 from three), with eight fouls in 47 total minutes in the Lakers’ first two games. But hey, he did make a free throw that received somewhat sarcastic applause, so good for him.
It’d be surprising if he didn’t lose some if not all of his minutes once Rajon Rondo and Kyle Kuzma factor back into the Lakers’ rotation, but he is a Klutch Sports client so, we’ll see.
After a rough 4th quarter in the season opener, LeBron James comes alive
LeBron James wasn’t his same self in the opening game against the Clippers, turning the ball over five times and only scoring 18 points including a terrible 4th quarter that resulted in the Clippers pulling away. LeBron put that behind him tonight though, ending with 32 points on 22 shots, 10 assists (one turnover), and 7 rebounds. He and Anthony Davis were on the same page all night, connecting on fast breaks and alley-oops left-and-right.
Davis wasn’t too bad himself, scoring 21 points with 7 rebounds.
The Lakers will host their second home game on Sunday night, taking on the Charlotte Hornets at 6:30 pm PST, which should be a game that the Lakers are heavily favored in.
All stats from NBA.com or Basketball-Reference
