LeBron James outshines Anthony Davis’s return in Lakers win over Nets

The Los Angeles Lakers continued the Grammys trip in New York to take on the Brooklyn Nets in the Barclays Center. It would be nice to see basketball again without “National Enquirer” storylines and drama to water down what was supposed to be must-see TV with two popular franchises.

• After the Los Angeles Lakers did everything in their power to make Frank Vogel look incompetent, it looks like he will coach the team for the rest of the season.

Wow, it looks like that Frank Vogel looked like the combination of Phil Jackson and Pat Riley in that victory against the Orlando Magic. According to two ESPN NBA insiders, Frank Vogel will finish out the season.

Dave McMenamin via Ralph Mason on Twitter: 

"“(The Lakers) had an off night against the Pacers, kind of been up and down since; beat the Magic, lose to the Heat. But it’s my understanding that the Lakers are moving forward with Frank Vogel. I anticipate him to be the head coach for the remainder of the season.”"

Ramona Shelburne:

"A series of listless losses throughout the season have put the onus on Vogel at several points, most recently last week when the team contemplated whether a midseason change could jump-start the team. Ultimately, the Lakers decided against replacing Vogel, for the time being at least, multiple sources said, because no one believes changing the coach will yield dramatically different results."

• Then there are the yearly James Harden complaints around the NBA trade deadline episode…via Bleacher Report… 

"Harden has recently informed several confidants—including former teammates and coaches—of his interest in exploring other opportunities outside of Brooklyn this summer, league sources told Bleacher Report.  Harden has been vocal to Nets figures and close contacts alike about his frustrations regarding Kyrie Irving’s part-time playing status. Nets coach Steve Nash’s fluid rotations have also disappointed Harden, sources told B/R. Nash has favored hot-hand closing lineups, rather than a fixed crunch-time unit.  According to multiple sources, Harden has not enjoyed living in Brooklyn, compared to his days as a central Houston magnate. Outside of the change in climate, the chasm between state taxes in New York versus Texas is quite obvious as well."

Why does Lake Show Life bring this up? Remember the last time Harden was planning his exit from Houston? The Lakers put on a beating so vicious that he basically quit in the middle of the game and the Rockets sent him away until they traded him.

Tired of reading about the sad reality show these days called the “Real Basketball Players of the NBA”  and want some Los Angeles Lakers analysis? Cool.

The Lakers put on a show in the Barclays Center defeating a depleted Brooklyn Nets team 106-96 to get their record back to .500…again. This game was all about LeBron James, but the storyline was all about Anthony Davis’ return.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

This is really common sense but Anthony Davis is back in the lineup and did not get hurt!

It doesn’t take long for Anthony Davis to dominate when he doesn’t waste time floating on the perimeter does it?

In seven minutes of the first quarter, Davis had 6 points and get this…3 BLOCKS! To put this in perspective, James Harden finished with 16 points in the first frame but he probably would have had 20 easily if AD wasn’t patrolling the paint.

AD finished with 8 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocks.

But this is not about a game at the end of January for Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers. This is about getting this dude healthy and in rhythm for a playoff run because the Lake Show needs his defensive rotations much more than the roughly 23 points and 10 rebounds every night.

Trevor Ariza does not start and Malik Monk explodes in the first half!

Wow…(Checking notes!) Frank Vogel notices that Trevor Ariza scores once or twice a week and decides to keep him out of the starting lineup and Malik Monk gets buckets. It’s either a coincidence or a sad joke being played on Los Angeles Lakers fans that care.

The one thing readers appreciate about these Lake Show Life post-game reports is the honesty. We criticize anyone that is not doing their job. For multiple games, the staff and the readers have been clamoring for Trevor Ariza to be benched and give Malik Monk more minutes.

• The good news is Trevor Ariza FINALLY did not start for the Los Angeles Lakers…
• The bad news is Malik Monk did not start but got into the game with about five minutes into the opening quarter!
• The best news is that Malik Monk led the Lakers in scoring at the half with 16 points on the strength of four shots from the land of the extra point. 

No one on the staff claims to be basketball savants, but don’t allow the narrative of basketball being so difficult because people dress nice and talk about it on television or the radio. It’s a simple sport of rhythm, matchups and effort.

Malik Monk had a stat line of 22 points (Six 3 pointers!), 6 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Trevor Ariza matched his point total from the previous game without even having to play. Now that Frank Vogel will keep his job, maybe he’ll do it and keep this a part of the rotations going forward.