Los Angeles extended their losing streak to 13 games on Thursday night as they defeated the Washington Wizards 134-131 behind 31 points from LeBron James and 40 points and 15 rebounds from Anthony Davis.
Los Angeles extended their losing streak to 13 games on Thursday night as they defeated the Washington Wizards 134-131 behind 31 points from LeBron James and 40 points and 15 rebounds from Anthony Davis.
Following this exhausting victory, James is now nine points away from becoming the first player in NBA history to collect 40,000 points. Los Angeles was already exhausted after upsetting the Clippers on Wednesday night by rallying from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
“We had to execute offensively and get some stops,” James said. Don’t throw the ball away. It’s a challenging league, and after our victory the night before, we had to play a young, scrappy team that wasn’t playing for anything but was playing hard, quickly, and energetically. It took us 53 minutes to complete the task.
James made his court comeback against Washington just one night after scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter of his game against the Clippers. He had missed the previous two games because of an ankle that was giving him persistent trouble.
It’s almost a certain that 39-year-old James will surpass the 40,000-point mark on Saturday on national television when playing against Denver, the reigning champion.
The Lakers, who are winning their ninth straight game, were never able to break away despite the 22 points that D’Angelo Russell scored for them. Despite having a strong February, Los Angeles hasn’t been able to climb up above ninth in the Western Conference.
“We’re in a race right now, and all we’re trying to do is get better, better ourselves, and get healthy,” Davis said. “And while doing it, continuing to be in the hunt and fight.”
The Wizards, powered by a season-high 34 points from Dwyane Wade and a season-high 23 from Marvin Bagley III, are three games away from matching the longest skid in franchise history despite this encouraging effort against the Lakers.
Washington missed five consecutive shots and made two errors before going scoreless in the last 3:50 of overtime.
The Wizards’ coach, Brian Keefe, said, “I thought it was great.” “We talked about our guys playing 48 minutes or more of basketball every day, and I think they played 53 tonight. We played the full game together.
Our boys played with intensity, shared the ball, and complied with our directions the entire game. just wasn’t able to prevail.
Former Lakers player Kyle Kuzma scored twenty points but missed the game-winning three with eight seconds left in overtime. Corey Kispert added 20 points for Washington.
The Wizards led for most of the first three quarters before rallying from an eight-point deficit in the fourth. Poole’s sixth 3-pointer of the game with 43 seconds left in regulation gave Washington a 126-124 advantage. But Austin Reaves’ fadeaway goal for Los Angeles tied the game.
Poole attempted a 31-foot shot at the official buzzer but was unsuccessful.
“I’m proud of our guys, even just for how we ended the game,” Poole said. “We had an altercation. Fantastic (to end regulation). That’s the look I desired. somewhat off-center to the left. I would take another look at it.
D’Angelo Russell scored 22 points for the Lakers.
After missing three because of a bruised left heel, Deni Avdija returned to the game, and Wizards youngster Bilal Coulibaly missed his second straight game because of a bruised right pelvis.
Cam Reddish did not play for the Lakers in the second half after playing four minutes in the first. He hadn’t played since Wednesday owing to an ankle ailment that kept him out of action for five weeks. He was having discomfort in his ankle, according to coach Darvin Ham.