The Lakers barely made it to town two days after claiming it would be difficult.
After Sunday’s loss to the Clippers highlighted a lot of Lakers shortcomings, the Washington Wizards—who have won a league-low six times—were the perfect remedy. Low morale pervaded the locker room after the game as LeBron James and JJ Redick discussed openly how their team couldn’t possibly improve upon its already razor-thin margin of error.
But as Tuesday marked the halfway point of the season, the Lakers (23-18) encountered the NBA club that made everyone, including themselves, feel like they had everything under control.
The Lakers won a game they needed badly before Thursday night’s home game against Boston 111-88 on Tuesday because they did the right things consistently across all four quarters. They were rarely threatened.
Since January 1, the Wizards have gone winless as they begin a rebuilding process with an eye towards the top of the 2025 NBA draft. With only backup centre Jonas Valanciunas and forward Corey Kispert as veterans and top offensive alternatives Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma as prospects, Washington is devoted to the future.
On Tuesday, it was inevitable that one team would dominate the other due to the Lakers’ laser-like focus on the here and now, even though the Lakers still had the opportunity to score.
While intimidating freshman Alex Sarr, Anthony Davis racked up 29 points and 16 boards. James recorded his tenth triple-double of the season with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists. He watched Ohio State win the NCAA football national title on Monday in Atlanta. In spite of shooting just four for fifteen, Austin Reaves still managed to rack up sixteen points and eight assists, while Dorian Finney-Smith scored sixteen points in just twenty-two minutes of bench time.
It was the Lakers’ relentless pursuit of open players in the paint that led to multiple baskets off of lobs.
The game-winning play occurred when the Lakers’ 40-year-old superstar James dunked on Valanciunas after receiving a lob pass from Reaves off an offensive rebound.
With a field goal percentage of 35.8% and a three-point field goal percentage of 25.6%, the Lakers kept Washington to just 11 points in the fourth quarter.
