Another day, another Lakers preseason loss. This time, it was 123-94 spanking at the hands of the Phoenix Suns, a continuation of a themes seen since training camp opened. The Lakers were shorthanded (Trevor Ariza, Talen Horton-Tucker and Malik Monk are injured, while LeBron James opted not to suit up), and the play on both sides of the ball was, shall we say, erratic. And the final score reflected a general lack of cohesion.

Not that there were no positives to speak of. Anthony Davis played his best game of the preseason, and seems to be rounding steadily into form, whether in terms of his offensive aggression or his defensive impact. Carmelo Anthony connected on five three-pointers. And Kent Bazemore was a quintessential "three-and-D" player (particularly the "D" part, where he was quite disruptive to Phoenix's schemes). As raggedy as the game was, those three stood out with positive contributions.

On the other hand, Russell Westbrook was pretty brutal, whether as a scorer or running the offense. Only three of his twelve shots fell, and those nine missed shots were matched with nine turnovers. To be clear, a big issue appears to be timing and a lack of familiarity with so many new teammates, which is to be expected to some degree. If anything, Westbrook may have been periodically overcompensating trying to move the ball around. Still, he's been a turnover machine in two preseason appearances, and it's still not entirely clear what his role is when he's not in charge of the ball.

Then again, it's not entirely clear the Lakers have been getting the most from this preseason, anyway.

Hosts: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Kamenetzkys begin the show with the positive elements from the loss: AD. Melo. Bazemore (who seems to have cemented his case to start).

SEGMENT 2: Game #2 for Russ? He's clearly trying hard to involve his teammates, but hooo boy...

SEGMENT 3: Have the Lakers been getting everything out of the preseason they want? Or more specifically, everything they want that they can control?

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