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LeBron’s Anger, AD’s Pride, and Kobe and Gigi’s Memory Power Lakers Win!

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The stars aligned for the Lakers last night as an angry LeBron lamented the shooting of Jacob Blake, a proud Anthony Davis came out en fuego, and the team donned Black Mamba jerseys to honor Kobe and Gigi with a big win.

It was a night of unimaginable joy and pain as the Lakers demolished the Blazers 135–115 on 8/24 with Kobe and Gigi Bryant smiling down from above while America mourned another blatant incident of racial injustice. As LeBron sadly lamented after the game: “Having two boys of my own and me being an African American in America and to see what continues to happen with the police brutality towards my kind … it’s very troubling.”

The mixed emotions were on raw display as the Lakers took a 24–8 lead over the Blazers midway through the first quarter. “When I looked up there and seen 24–8, I was like, ‘OK, this is a [sign]. He’s here in the building.’” Yet, after the game, LeBron’s made abundantly clear his mind was on more than just basketball and winning the game: “I got half my brain locked in on the playoffs and the other half on how the hell I can help black people.””

Watching LeBron channel that joy and anger into a 30-point, 10-assist marvelous masterpiece of a game where he shot 10 of 12 from the field and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc while playing just 28 minutes was truly special. The mental focus and discipline, the physical effort and talent, and the laser precision and execution at 35-years old is something we’ve never seen in the NBA before. LeBron is rewriting the rules of what the GOAT means.

Then there’s LeBron’s co-superstar Anthony Davis, who played just 18 minutes last night before leaving with back spasms with the Lakers leading the Blazers by 91–53. Seriously, 18 minutes with a plus/minus of +37? Together, LeBron and AD are the best superstar duo in the league and Davis the King’s best co-star ever: “AD is one of those unicorns and he does things that some of my other great teammates are not capable of doing.”

Their synergy and symbiosis as superstar teammates is unmatched. Davis challenged James to join him on the NBA All-Defensive team while no NBA duo has ever created more assists than the James to Davis connection has. Here’s AD after the Lakers’ Game 1 loss: “I didn’t feel like I performed to the level that I needed to. He let me have my moment and kind of get on myself. And then he talked to me and said I was fine. He said it was one game.”

Indeed, Anthony bounced back with a vengeance the next three games, posting 26.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.0 blocks, 1.3 steals in 29.2 minutes per game and shooting 61.7% from the field and 42.9% from deep. His contributions at both ends of the court for the last three games have been exceptional and legitimately MVP caliber: team-best 131.7 offensive rating, team-best 86.6 defensive rating, and team-best 45.2 net rating.

What LeBron James and Anthony Davis were able to do with last night’s dominating performance on 8/24, the day that will forever be Kobe Bryant day, was to showcase how they’ve totally embraced ‘Mamba Mentality.’ There was no taking the pedal off the metal and giving the Blazers an opportunity to get back in the game and the series. Instead, we saw the stone cold killer instinct that always made Kobe Bryant such a feared foe.

But it’s not just the Lakers’ superstars who are clicking on all cylinders and playing with Mamba Mentality. It’s suddenly the entire Lakers’ team that’s not only playing lock-down defense but also shooting lights out from deep. The Lakers shut down the Blazers’ high-powered defense the last three games and now have the #1 defensive rating in the playoffs. They’ve also come alive from deep and are shooting a league 7th best 38.3%.

While the Rockets and Clippers, their next expected foes, are struggling, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers seem to have harnessed the power of Mamba Mentality to pursue their 17th NBA championship.

5 Things: Lakers lead wire-to-wire against the Trailblazers

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Wow. While I had hoped that we would win the game on Mamba Day I didn’t know it would take on an unearthly quality. When we went up 24-8

I had a feeling that something special was in the making and it was.

Let’s dig in.

  1. A fitting tribute to Kobe, Gigi and everyone who passed away in the helicopter crash. I watch the Spectrum broadcasts whenever they’re available. For this game I thought it especially fitting. Stu noticed the 24-8 score instantly, it blew up the internet soon after. They went through the names of everyone who died a couple times. It’s easy to for Lakers fans to focus on Bryant, 41, and Gigi, 13, but the crash also claimed the lives of Payton Chester, 13; Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; Christina Mauser, 38; and the helicopter’s pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50. The NBA, city of Los Angeles, County of Orange and the NBA all did a great job paying homage. I wanted to do the same. You will all be missed.
  2. LeBron James’ masterpiece of a game. All the eulogizing, street naming et al is cool. But I don’t think Kobe would have appreciated anything as much as he would have loved watching LeBron put together as perfect a playoff game as one could imagine. In a scant 28 minutes James poured in 30 points on a ridiculously efficient 12 shots. He was 4-5 from three point line, made 6-8 free throws, made every 2 pointer he tried and he did it in 3 quarters. He dished 10 assists and grabbed 6 boards with a block for good measure. LeBron was other-worldly last night and I hope this level of play continues on all the way to the moment he hoists the Larry O’Brien trophy.
  3. Anthony Davis sitting out most of the game. Before he sat out the majority of the victory with back spasms (in his post-gamer on Spectrum he said he could have gone back in, everyone was playing great so he had the luxury to sit it out and is 100% going to play in game 5) Davis was putting as good a game as LeBron was. Portland has no answer whatsoever for AD. Whiteside is too slow, Nurkic too undisciplined, he’s passing well out of doubles…or splitting them…and he’s getting to the line. In 18 minutes he shot 5-8, got to the line 10 times making 8, and added 5 boards, 5 dimes, a steal and 2 blocks. I think it’s safe to say he finally found his All-Star caliber Bubble mojo.
  4. The starting five playing like they’re our best players. Everyone in the starting line up played great. JaVale was Godzilla-like on defense blocking shots, grabbing boards and forcing the opposing big to guard him and not sag. Danny Green found his game by not settling for threes and driving the ball into the paint. KCP was solid. The starting 5 shot great from three (9-14), played great defense (2 steals and 9 blocks). The best part was no starter played more than James’ 28 minutes setting us up for…
  5. The Bench Bunch! Bench Mob was the moniker bestowed upon the Jordan Farmar, Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic-era Laker bench. This is a new bunch and they got a lot of playoff burn last night. This marked the second game in the series where some of the guys on the Laker bench played near starter minutes and everyone but the G-Leaguers got some run. Led by Kyle Kuzma the bench of the Lakers has a lot more to offer than Portland’s bench does.

Portland looks gassed, some guys who don’t play often got in to the blowout last night and you could see why they aren’t getting meaningful minutes. The Blazers are really missing the flexibility Zach Collins brings, Melo and Whiteside are pulling a few too many shenanigans instead of just playing hard, and C.J. can only do so much. They can’t afford to lose Damian (awaiting his MRI from earlier today) and if he’s out for the next game I think we’ll see LT’s prediction of a 5 game series come to be. If he’s in I think Dame has enough magic in him to push it to a game 6. We’ve all but erased any chance of getting to 7 games and Portland’s only hope to pull this out is to force the series to 7. I just don’t see it happening. Too few bodies for the Blazers to throw at the Laker juggernaut which just a week ago looked vulnerable. Not any more.