LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers’ six-game road opened with championship-caliber wins sandwiched between soul-crushing losses.
The purple and gold experienced a high on Saturday, Jan. 27 after the Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 145-144 in a double overtime thriller. However, the Lakers followed that electrifying win with a 135-119 loss to the Houston Rockets the following Monday and then a 138-122 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on the second night of a back-to-back. Then, with their two best players out, the Lakers defied the odds to beat the Boston Celtics 114-105.
LeBron James led the Lakers to victory against the Warriors with a stellar performance. James led the Lakers in points, rebounds, and assists. He finished with 36 points, 12 assists and a career-high 20 rebounds. Center Anthony Davis followed James’s lead with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks of his own, while guard D’Angelo Russell contributed 28 points.
Both teams had similar field goal percentages: the Lakers shot 49% from the field and the Warriors shot 46%. In such a competitive and close game, the stat sheet had minimal discrepancies between the two teams.
What stands out from the Warriors game was how valiantly the Lakers fought for the win. In an impressive effort, Warriors guard Stephen Curry led his team—with 46-point performance—to a 15-point lead in the third quarter. And the Warriors would maintain a lead until the 1:43 mark in the fourth quarter. However, the Lakers stayed tough and—perhaps more importantly—engaged throughout the two overtimes. They weathered the Steph Curry storm by playing with heart and together. In the second overtime, four different Lakers contributed to the 15-point total in that period, while Curry contributed 10 points of the Warriors’ 14-point haul in the second session .
“It’s just one of those wins where it just showed our character,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said to the media post-game. “Our group is really coming together. Just the way they competed, the way they shared, did the little things… this was a really, really gutsy win. Everybody participated… we needed one of these.”
All of that effort and momentum must have missed the first couple planes out of California.
The Monday night matchup between the Lakers and Rockets had none of the electrifying excitement of the Golden State matchup, perhaps showing that the overtime minutes sapped the Lakers of their energy. The Lakers only had a one-point lead early in the first quarter and they would never lead the game again.
James, Russell and Davis all led the Lakers with 23 points each. James also had 10 assists and shot 60% from the field. It was a game marred with defensive breakdowns and half-efforts. Rockets guard Jalen Green led his team with 34 points while center Alperen Sengun was closely behind with 31. One of the game’s most impressive performances came from Rockets rookie forward Cam Whitmore, who scored 20 points off the bench. 12 of those points came in the first quarter alone and he finished the quarter with back-to-back transition dunks.
In the paint and on defense are where things got ugly. The Lakers only had 35 rebounds compared to the Rockets’ 56 and allowed Houston 19 second-chance points. Houston had 68 points in the paint while the Lakers had 56.
The Lakers attempted a fourth-quarter comeback push with James leading the way. His six points in the fourth and forward Rui Hachimura’s 11 points had Houston’s once-30 point lead cut down to just 10 late into the quarter, but in the end, it didn’t matter.
The Rockets beat the Lakers 135-119 in Houston. Russell summarized the struggles of the game simply.
“We did a lot of different things today,” Russell said to the media. “Couldn’t find a way to respond… we’ll figure it out.”
Spoiler alert: they didn’t figure it out. Not immediately, at least. The next day, the Lakers lost to the Hawks by 16 points—the same differential as the Rockets game.
Davis was out for the game and in his absence, guard Austin Reaves led the team with 28 points and James finished with 20. The Lakers opened the first quarter with promise, holding a six point lead until the 7:48 mark. The Hawks would tie the score five times before taking the lead late in the first and from then on, they never trailed.
The Hawks matched the Lakers in their shot efficiency, but from behind the arc, the Hawks shot 42% while the Lakers finished with 53%. However, that bright spot was eclipsed by a familiar lack of effort and hustle, as the Hawks had 21 second-chance points and 26 fastbreak points. To their credit (kind of), the Lakers finished with 22 fastbreak points and nearly matched the Hawks’ points in the paint—66 for the Lakers and 68 for the Hawks—even with Davis out for the game.
Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young finished the game with 26 points, 13 assists and shot 66% from three. Atlanta guard Dejounte Murray had 24 points. After the game, Reaves acknowledged both Atlanta guards as exceptional players who make defense tough..
“We just have to be better as a collective group,” Reaves said to the media. “We have to be physical and create indecision for them instead of just letting teams play so freely.”
Coach Ham pointed to defensive breakdowns as the catalyst for the Hawks finding their rhythm and taking over in the first quarter. The Lakers dug themselves into a hole that is hard to get out of most games, but especially so for the second game of a back-to-back. Ham called the circumstances “unfortunate.”
“It’s been like that all year though,” Ham said to the media. “it’s different circumstances… you can use them as excuses or you can say, hey the whole league goes through it. Got to look ourselves in the mirror and man the hell up.”
For their next game, the Lakers could have made plenty of excuses. They had a day of rest before facing their next opponent: the Boston Celtics, holder of the NBA’s best record. To make matters more difficult, James and Davis were both out for the game.
What was a set-up for disaster ended in Lakers glory. With their two best players out, the Lakers beat the Celtics 114-105, only the third loss for Boston at home.
Reaves led the team with a season-high 32 points, supported by 70% shooting from behind the arc. Stepping into the starting lineup, center Jaxson Hayes had 16 points and 10 rebounds, along with several hustle plays to extend some key possessions for the Lakers. All of the starting five scored in double digits, with Hachimura coming off of the bench to contribute 16 points as well.
The Lakers would hold the lead for most of the game, only giving the Celtics a one-point lead at the 9:59 mark in the second quarter. After that, the Lakers never ceded control.
Similarly to their win over Golden State, the Lakers’ effort on both ends of the floor secured their win. They shot 52% from three compared to Boston’s 33%. They fought for tip-ins and 50-50 balls, scoring 21 fastbreak points and forcing 15 Celtics turnovers.
Coming off of his season-high performance, Reaves told the media post-game that hustle plays from Hayes and the rest of the team were the keys to winning the game.
“It wasn’t nothing special. It wasn’t like we was out there running a million sets,” Reaves said. “We went out there and competed our ass off. We gave it 110%.”
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum scored 23 points, center Kristaps Porzingis had 17 points and on the same night he was named an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve player, forward Jaylen Brown finished with just eight points on 4-12 shooting.
The win against the Celtics brings the Lakers’ record back up to .500 at 25-25. They are currently ranked ninth in the Western Conference. The Dallas Mavericks are in the eighth spot, ahead of LA by two games.
The Lakers’ will stay in the Empire State to face the New York Knicks on Saturday, Feb. 3 in Madison Square Garden at 5:30 p.m.