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Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room What a defensive masterpiece the Lakers put on from start to finish. They held Houston to 31 points in the first half and just 55 after three. LeBron James scored 18 of his 28 in the opening half and gave LA an offensive burst every time they needed it along with two big 3's to close out the first half. Rui Hachimura added 21 points on 5/7 shooting from deep on a night where it felt like he couldn't miss. Austin Reaves, on the seco

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room Defense was the story, again! But, the job is not finished -in the words of Kobe Bryant. That is exactly the attitude I hope the Lakers carry forth even with the 2-0 lead. However, it feels like a blessing considering where we were last week - and since the injuries to our top two scorers. If you've been listening to any of the "experts" the Lakers stood no chance in this first round series versus the Houston Rockets. I honestly fe

Written by Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room LA took care of business on the last night of the regular season in the NBA vs the Jazz in a blowout where LeBron was resting by halftime. The Lakers were in play for a rematch with Minnesota, but Denver took care of business to secure the third seed in the Western Conference leaving the Lakeshow fourth and pitted against the #5 Houston Rockets led by longtime veteran Kevin Durant. First narrative though has to be Luka if and will

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room LeBron James had his second straight impressive individual outing, this one led to a win versus the also short handed Warriors. LeBron poured in 26 points 11 assist and 7 rebounds on 11/17 shooting and 3/5 from deep. Deandre Ayton had a major bounce back performace adding 21 points and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes of action. The Lakers led the entire 2nd half after a back and forth 1st half in a game they won 119-103 to collect their 5

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room It was all good just a week ago. Literally. The most interesting part of the game might have been the sideline exchange with Vando and Coach Redick. As far as on the court LA lost it's third straight game at home vs the Thunder (the second blowout in less than a week versus them). This game was tied 42-42 at one point in the second quarter. The Lakers had a very spirited first led by 10 points from Drew Timme in the period - he fin

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room Luke Kennard collected his first triple-double of his career with 13 points 15 rebounds and 11 assist. Good news on a bad night. Cooper Flagg jumped out with 19 points of his eventual 45 point 8 rebound and 9 assist masterpiece in the first quarter alone, where the Mavericks scored 41 points on the Lakers overall. I guess it's progress - we gave up 44 to Oklahoma city. I'm joking. I'm not sure if the Lakers ever led in this game al

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room I actually don't think so. Luka's injury is the more concering issue at hand in my opinion. The loss was nothing short of demoralizing for the team and fanbase alike, but it was still only one game. I've been a Lakers fan for my whole life and only seen a handful of debacle to compare. The game got out of hand in the first 6 minutes it felt like we had 10 turnovers. We never had a chance to get on track losing 44-21 after one and

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room MVP chants were a plenty on this night...but what a day, the Lakers clinched a playoff seed earlier with Phoenix loss to Orlando along with the Pacific Division crown. They also earned JJ Redick his second 50th win campaign in as many season's at the helm for the purple and gold. That's impressive. They opened as -1.5 against visiting Cleveland and it never felt that close after about the 4 minute mark of the second quarter when th

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room On a night Luka Doncic served a suspension for receiving his 16th technical of the season, the Lakers blew out the tanking Washington Wizards at Crypto.com arena 120-101. LeBron James led the way with a triple double collecting 21 points 12 assist and 10 rebounds in what felt like a wire to wire victory. The Lakers somehow trailed after one 26-25 before taking control. They outscored the Wizards 40-18 in the second quarter and ne

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room N word with a hard R hit me in the chest like Ray Lewis, even over a zoom meeting. Flashbacks of me being accosted by a group of white kids on bike (looked like horseback in the moment) when I was young hurling a word I never heard used with such vitriol, next flashback being of a 10 year old boy with a gun in his face being called the same word as he went door to door seeing who's weeds he could pull (let's just say I retired from

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room You can't beat the Indiana Pacers without a desperate rally attempt I guess. LeBron nearly collected a triple double with 23 points 9 assist and 9 boards on a night where the Lakers got back on track and closed the 6 game road trip 5-1 with a 137-130 win over the Pacers. LA scored jumped out to a 10-0 lead and scored 75 points in the first half and led by as many as 29 points with Tyrese Halliburton watching back on the Pacers sid

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room The Lakers two most iconic players in Luka Doncic and LeBron James did not attend college as they were both not born of man - joking, maybe. True answer might be JJ Redick if he was a current player. The Lakers current head coach was a rock star in college to say the least. March Madness has me thinking though, how did the current iteration of the Lakeshow's roster fare in the NCAA? Deandre Ayton was the #1 pick so his case will b

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room I've been angry with the Detroit Pistons since 2004, tonight didn't make it any better. On a night the Pistons were minus Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart, LA had its 9 game win streak snapped in the 5th contest on this 6 game road trip. Luka Doncic scored 32 points on an inefficient 11-29 shooting (3-13 from deep), he also missed a potential game tying 30 plus foot three pointer over a heavy Jalen Duren contest. The last play fe

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room Marcus Smart, a former defensive player of the year and buyout project for the Lakers this previous offseason is paying tremendous dividends. I don't say that lightly. Luka Doncic is scoring a boatload of points and putting up tremendous numbers - we had that last year. JJ Redick is on his way to his second 50 win campaign (barring an epic collapse) in as many seasons and has turned a scrambling zone defense into a useful tool to g

Written by Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room No slander, but I have no faith Gabe Vincent would've made that shot. Good job, Pelinka! Luka Doncic had another high scoring game with 33 points on 12-30 shooting, crazy to think he scored 60 on the same amount of field goals in Miami. LeBron looked a little sluggish in this one also. This first half was the tale of two quarters LA jumped out to a 37-23 lead and led by 7 after one with Doncic chipping in 16 points in a usual eff

Written by Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room They literally went through the motions until late into the first half, but who could blame them. They played less than 24 hours ago in Houston and landed in Miami in 5 AM. The Heat didn't care and took full advantage of the drowsy Lakers ripping off 42 points in the first quarter. Leading 42-29 after one period. The second quarter fared far better for LA who outscored Miami 30-23 in the period and showed signs of life on both ends

Written by Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room 40 points 10 Assist and 9 Rebounds for Luka Magic, and it felt routine. LeBron was young LeBron in the first half connecting on three dunks in the half including a ridiculous alley oop on a pass from Marcus Smart that looked about three feet beyond the backboard that he somehow converted. He also scored 18 points of his 30 overall in the first 24 minutes, Deandre Ayton also had a strong first half with 14 of his 16 points in the h

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room Luka was- well Luka scoring 16 of his game high in the 36 points to pace the Lakers in the opening quarter. Jabari Smith Jr led the Rockets with 22. LA led 29-23 with 1:10 remaining in the period before the pesky Reed Sheppard closed the quarter on a 5-0 run on his own to close the first with LA up one 29-28. Clint Capela led Deandre Ayton 3-0 after one in their individual hilarious side battle that you could feel from the tip of

Written by Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room Are the Lakers contenders? Ask me last Sunday morning that answer was a resounding NO, but things are fluid. And flowing the right way in Laker-land. Saturday night was the cap on a week in which they had their best win of the season - three times I kid you not. I left the New York, Minnesota and Denver games with the same feeling, the Lakers showed me something! They showed the league and national media something, this team is bet

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room Are the Lakers heating up for the stretch run? It actually feels like we're turning a corner. Deandre Ayton was a monster tonight, I want to start there simple and plain he finisehd with 23 points 10 Rebounds (6 offensive) and it felt like he contributed double that from an effort standpoint. Great job DA. Luka was his usual juggernaut of an offensive weapon self adding in 51 points 10 rebounds and 9 assist. Josh Giddey and Buzelis