ShowTime MVP – Los Angeles Lakers – Week 6

By Guest Writer
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Updated: December 11, 2014

Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, is pressured by Sacramento Kings’ Darren Collison during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Quick Summary:

Another week in the books and, this time around, the Los Angeles Lakers went 1-3. Some blowouts against the Lakers would force a lineup change within the starting lineup. The last two games of the week featured Ed Davis starting over Carlos Boozer at power forward and Ronnie Price starting over Jeremy Lin at point guard.

The Lakers would be blown out in their first game, against the New Orleans Pelicans, using this lineup but would rebound in their second game to defeat the Sacramento Kings.

So, lets recap the entire week of games starting with game #1 against the Washington Wizards…

Game #1: Los Angeles Lakers 95, Washington Wizards 111

The Lakers would have an off shooting night (38.8% FG) as their only offensive players of the night seemed to be Kobe Bryant (29 pts) and Nick Young (21 pts). The next highest scoring player for the Lakers for the night would be Ronnie Price with 11 points.

The Wizards, with a backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal, would play extremely well and not hold anything back against the Lakers.

It would be an extremely disappointing night for Lakers’ starting point guard, Jeremy Lin, as he would be scoreless for the night (0-10 from the field), have only 5 assists, and have 4 turnovers.

Game #2: Los Angeles Lakers 96, Boston Celtics 113

Kobe would be the leading scorer again for the Lakers having 22 for the night. Lin would be rebound from a scoreless night having 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting, but, would only have 2 assists.

Nick Young, off the bench, would have 16 for the night but it would be on 5 of 14 shooting. Boozer would have a disappointing night having only 2 points and 7 rebounds.

The Lakers’ poison, in this one, would be the rebound battle where they would be out-rebounded 54-38.

The Lakers would also play extremely poor defense allowing the Celtics to shoot 51% shooting from the field. This could be due to the Celtics’ excellent passing to setup other shooters which, again, would mean the Lakers would have bad rotational defense switching from one guy to another.

Game #3: New Orleans Pelicans 104, Los Angeles Lakers 87

So, with Lin and Boozer struggling through the first two games of the week, it was decided that a lineup change was coming. As a result, Ed Davis and Ronnie Price would now start in place of Boozer and Lin.

This experiment, in game one, would not go the Lakers’ way as they would fall by 17 points to the Pelicans. Davis, in his first game starting, had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Price would have just 3 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

The Lakers’ usual leading scorer, Kobe, would only have 14 for the game as the entire team would struggle to get anything done for the entire night.

Game #4: Sacramento Kings 95, Los Angeles Lakers 98

The Lakers first and only win of the week! The Lakers would outscore the Kings in the 4th quarter (20-14) which would be the big reason as to how the Lakers ended up pulling away against the Kings at the very end.

Kobe would lead the way with 32 points and 6 assists for the night. Boozer, now off the bench, would play well actually with 15 points and 9 rebounds.

Unfortunately, in his second game starting, Price would somehow end up with less points than his first game starting where he had 3 points…tonight he had 2. Price, however, would have 6 assists which would be critical the Lakers scoring points on offense late in the game.

A big thing for Price, as well, would be his ability to protect the ball and make smart plays. Price, would have 0 turnovers for the night and, the Lakers as a team, would only have 5 turnovers for the game.

Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant gestures while arguing with a referee during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

ShowTime MVP:

Well, its getting kind of repetitive, but multiple players would struggle for the Lakers this past week with nobody playing consistent basketball…except for Kobe Braynt of course.

Kobe would average 24 points per game and 4 assists per game and he, again, would be our ShowTime MVP of the week.

An honorable mention does have to go to Nick Young as he would continue to be the 6th man of the team averaging 15.5 points per game during the week.

One disappointing player that, usually, is up there for ShowTime MVP, was Jordan Hill. Hill is usually a double double machine but, last week, had 0 games where he posted at least 10 rebounds. Heck, Hill’s best game rebounding for the week was only 7.

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