Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

Well, it was an eventful game, if nothing else. Anthony Davis woke up with his back feeling extra stiff, and had to sit out Friday's game in Minnesota. Russell Westbrook made his regular season debut as a sixth man, with some positive moments mixed in with... less positive moments. LeBron James was aggressive, but very inefficient. The Lakers hit some three pointers... but fell apart from two-point range and turned the ball over like crazy. They played hard, they tried their best.....

Russell Westbrook comes off the bench, and it sort of helped, kinda...

Maybe it's nothing... but nobody seems to think that. Lebron James, who is no stranger to passive aggressive use of social media to make a point, posted Thursday on Instagram a highlight dunk, and a question: "How long will you be taken for granted?" It was widely interpreted as a shot at Lakers management, with the idea they're wasting a still highly productive James. Or at the least, he seemed more than willing to let people make that assumption for at least a day...

Dark clouds are quickly gathering over the 2022-23 season for the Lakers...

There was some hope that the Lakers might get a little addition by subtraction Wednesday night in Denver, as the struggling Russell Westbrook was in street clothes thanks to a hamstring injury. Without Russ, the theory went, things would run more smoothly. The offense would improve. The Lakers might, you know, win. Nope. They looked essentially the same, and that's not a good thing. Still outrebounded, still outshot, still unable to mount anything resembling a credible NBA offense...

It wasn't any better without Russell Westbrook in the lineup, folks...

All eyes will be on how the Lakers perform without Westbrook in the lineup

At practice on Tuesday, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said "not today" when asked about making a change to the starting lineup. Only minutes later, the Lakers announced that Russell Westbrook would be listed as "doubtful" for Wednesday's game in Denver thanks to a hamstring injury that popped up in the preseason. Maybe Darvin knew that decision could be made for him? With Westbrook sidelined, Wednesday's game takes on an entirely different meaning...

It's enjoyable to poke fun at Magic Johnson's social media presence, and even some of the stuff he says in normal spoken word interviews. But appearing on Shannon Sharpe's podcast, Magic had some surprisingly straightforward and reasonable advice for Russell Westbrook. "First off, take accountability. If you don’t play well, admit it. Stop trying to fight the media and the fans and go out and perform," he said, using his own Finals failure (Tragic Johnson, anyone?) in '84 as a template...

Three games in, and the mood is already getting dark...