LeBron James moved to Los Angeles with the idea of getting the Lakers afloat, but very soon he was able to see how hard life is in the Far West. Three matches have been enough, the first one outside and the other two at home. In the first, despite scoring 26 points and capturing 12 rebounds, his Lakers fell 128-119 against the Trail Blazers in Portland.
King James, a four-time MVP and three-ring winner of the NBA, proved that this group of young stars, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, was talented but lacked a boil. And besides that, the group of legionaries made up of Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee, Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley were just a group of loose pieces.
He lacked a little, maybe in the next.
The debut
The team made the season debut at the glamorous Staples Center no less than against the Rockets. The game was highly disputed until the last quarter. With only 4:13 left for the final and with the scoreboard 109-108 favorable to Houston, James Harden made a foul as usual and the referees sang it to Ingram who, angered by the blow received, pushed Harden winning thus a technique, without imagining that that would be the trigger for what would come next.
With heated spirits, Chris Paul was arguing with Rajon Rondo, who gave a spit to the owner of the Rockets, then Paul put his finger in the eye to the owner of the Lakers, who responded by throwing a punch to his face that caused a great tangana to which he joined to hit Ingram.
LeBron took his friend and rival Paul out of the fight, but could not prevent him from being sent off like his teammates Rondo and Ingram. The Rockets took advantage to escape on the scoreboard and cause the second defeat of the Lakers 124-115.
LeBron James finished with 24 points, and the three expelled players were sanctioned economically and with suspension games.
Ingram to four games, Rondo to three and Paul to two; sanctions that seem quite weak for the severity of the actions. This Monday, the Lakers, without Rondo or Ingram, saw them and wished them before the Spurs again at the Staples Center in the best of their three games. After losing the first quarter 40-26, Los Angeles players managed to tie the match in the final quarter and even when it seemed that the San Antonio team was definitely missing 128-120, the Lakers managed to get close to three.
And, with only 2.4 seconds to go, LeBron tied the game 128-128 with a triple kilometer that sent the game to overtime.
The defeat
In the five minutes of the playoff, the Lakers were better, reaching the final seconds up in score 142-141. But James with 11.2 'lost the two free throws, and Patty Mills with 6.8 went around the marker to put the Spurs ahead 143-142. Again James took the ball, but this time his shot in the last breath did not enter, and the Los Angeles team suffered its third straight loss, this time in overtime. LeBron, who went from hero to villain, reached 32 points and in the three encounters now averages 27.3 points. Of the rest of their Lakers five (Ball, Hart, Ingram, Kuzma, Rondo and McGee) averaged double digits, but between all allow 131.6 points per game, and so it is very difficult to win.
Now with 3-0 in the basement of the West, and without two starters, LeBron and his boys have to come back. Their next stop is in Phoenix, where they hope to make their first victory of the season against the Suns (1-2) on Wednesday.
