Showtime (Lakers) at the Barclays

Written by Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room

No, its not the Showtime at the Apollo nor Madison Square Garden, but the second leg of the Lakers New York City two step got a boost prior to tip off. It's official Lakers fans the return of Austin Reaves - off the bench. Austin has been sorely missed on the offensive end for shot creation purposes when Luka is being blitzed to give the defense another on ball magician and three level scorer to have to focus in on. On the Brookyln side of things, Michael Porter Jr is returning after missing the 130-77 assault (along with Noah Clowney) at the hands of the Detroit Pistons. Prior to the game Porter Jr explained to a Nets reporter in the locker room that veteran teams don't like playing young energetic teams that get up and down, he may have a point but lets hope tonight the odds play out as Vegas predicts, and it should.

Before you get into the recap, the Lakers absolutely looked like the Showtime Lakrers the entirety of the first half of this game. I kid you not.

The game started like most of the road games this season a half hearted tribute to LeBron james who feels half retired when they say it may be his last time in such and such arena. After a Brooklyn 3 to start, Luka got the Lakers going with a ridiculous Luka Magic high arching fadeaway. Lebron followed up two Jake Laravia free throws with another beautiful fadeway and a Nets turnover led to a fast break with a Deandre Ayton finish from a James dish. Early Timeout Nets. Out of the timeout, Marcus Smart fouls MPJ on a 3 pointer for his 2nd early foul (he missed one). Lakers lead by one after 8-7 after three minutes. Laravia returned to the line and also scored on a fastbreak Alley oop from LeBron to go along with a Luka stepback 3, the Lakers started the game a torrid 7-7 from the field leading 17-9 before a MPJ offensive rebound putback whic Lebron answered with an and one in the lane. The Lakers got another patented Luka Doncic stepback to push the lead to 26-11 another timeout Nets. The Nets went on a mini. 6-2 run after the timeout thanks to an offensive rebound given up to Sharpe and a careless Luka turnover for a fastbreak dun to Day'ron Sharpe. After two Luka freethrows Cam Thomas answered with a smooth stepback. Luka answered with another first quarter stepback to give him 14 early points. Jaxson Hayes went on a 9 point run himself with an and 1, tip dunk off a circus shot miss by Lebron and a fast break rim rocker to push the Lakers lead to 38-21. Austin Reaves checked in around the 1:20 mark. The Lakers run continued with a Vando Bucket and 3 from Rui who entered the scoring the before a Day'Ron Sharpe tip in stopped the Lakers run and cut the lead to 43-23. Reaves first points back came on 2 free throws and the Lakers cruised to a. 45-23 1st quarter lead to end the quarter.

Lebron scored the Lakers first 4 points of the 2nd with one being a ridiculous off the backboard alley oop from Austin reaves who scored two freethrows next followed by his first basket back the Lakers led by 26 53-27 with the Nets struggling mightily from 3 point land at 1-12. Claxton and Ayton exchanged buckets before another 41 year old miracle Lebron took off with another signature cock-back extension. the Lakers ballooned to 30 59-29 on another Lebron bucket to give him 12 first half point before Luka magic found Ayton with a Magic Johnson esque pass to push the lead to 32. Cam Thomas and Deandre Ayton both missed free throws to keep the lead at 62-30 halfway through the 1st half. Two trips to the free throw line only added two more points as Doncic and Laravia missed one a piece with a goaltend called on Brooklyn on the Latter trip to balloon the Lakers lead to 66-30. Reaves added a strong finish at the rim to push it to 38 beofre MPJ drew a foul on an and one. Rui & Jordi Fernandez ended up in a skirmish and a technical that Reaves hit to settle the lead at 69-33 before the Lakers called a timeout after a kicked ball violation. The Nets went on a mini 5-0 run on a Noah Clowney dunk followed by an Egor Demin 25 foot 3 point jumper. An offensive foul on Doncic and a mini stall left the Lakers at 69 to close the second quarter which Brooklyn closed on a 7-0 run. Lakers 69, Nets 40. End of 2nd.

The 2nd half began with two misses from Reaves, one from three. Both followed by Ayton offensive rebounds that led to a LeBron drive and finish to push the lead back over 30, immediate timeout Nets. James followed that with another dunk to go with a Marcus Smart fadeaway to push the lead to 75-40. Buckets from Nolan Traore and MPJ made it 75-44 before Reaves hit his first three of the game and thanked the Lord. The Lakers had also somehow missed 12 straight from deep up to that point. Another deep shot from Luka after a driving LeBron layup pushed the lead back to 83-44 to match the largest margin at 39. The Nets followed with an 11-4 run to get it back to 87-55 with 5:28 to go in the third. The teams traded buckets for a few minutes capped by layups from Day'Ron Sharpe and Luka Doncic respectively paced the Lakers lead at 97-64 wiht two and a half minutes remaining in the third before the Nets finished on a strong 10-3 ru nto close the gap to 100-74 at the end of the third helped by three pointers from Ben Saraf and Ziaire Williams. Luka Doncic has 24 points 6 rebounds and 5 assist after 3 on 8-18 shooting 4-11 from three, LeBron has 20 points 7 Assist and 4 rebounds and Reaves is leading off the bench with 12.

Jarred Vanderbilt opened the 4th quarter scoring up wiht a layup off the bench follwed by two LeBron free throws to get the lead back to 30 before the Nets mini 5-0 run fueled by another Williams three capped by a Day'Ron Sharpe slam. Rreaves stpped the momentum drawing a foul on a 3 which he drew on Sharpe, with Reaves at the line the Brooklyn crowd started the "We Want Bronny" chats. With the Lakers up 109-81 - after another foul on a Lakers 3 this time Ziaire Williams got LeBron, you just might get Bronny. With 7:27 left in the 4th, LeBron made his way to the bench with what may be for the night. Timeout Nets. The Lakers current lineup is Reaves who has 15 points so far in his return, Vincent, Ayton, Vanderbilt and Rui while Luka and LeBron get much needed rest. Jake Laravaia added a layup to his solid night to bump his scoring up to 18. The teams traded buckets up until the 4:36 mark where Jared Vanderbilt was fouled at the rim to with the Lakers up 117-92, Bronny James entered to the delight of the Brooklyn crowd who immediately began chating "BRONNY". Bronny immediately obliged on an alley oop from Knecht that he layed off the glass., Day'Ron Sharpe responded for the Nets at the rim before a Bronny putback soft touch found the hole. It hit every part of the rim but its been that kind of night. The Nets crowd responded with MVP chants. Lakers up 121-95. Danny Wolf of the Nets went on a 5-0 run to cloe it to 121-100 but the in words of uncle Chick Hearn, the jello is jigglin. The Lakers cruised to a 125-109 victory to capture their 30th win of the season and move their record to 30-19. LeBron led the team with 25 points and 7 assist Luka followed with 24 points and 6 rebounds. Jake Laravia had 18 on 7/9 shooting and Austin Reaves added 15 off the bench in his return.

I don't mean to toot my own horn but like I said -7.5 wasnt enough for this one. We close the road trip at 5-3. Next at home vs the 76ers 2/5.