Lakers Highlights: Ivica Zubac, Rajon Rondo Step Up After LeBron James’ Injury In Christmas Day Win Over Warriors

Dan Duangdao
2 Min Read


Without LeBron James for much of the third quarter and all of the fourth, Ivica Zubac and Rajon Rondo carried the Los Angeles Lakers to a 127-101 win over the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.

As James slipped in the third quarter and was eventually ruled out of the game with a strained groin, the Warriors made a furious run and a 19-point Lakers lead was quickly down to two.

Stephen Curry sparked the Warriors with back-to-back threes on what otherwise was a relatively quiet night, but the Lakers stayed composed under the circumstances, led by Rondo. Along with Rondo’s two field goals, his assists to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Lance Stephenson keyed a 7-2 run to close the third quarter.

To start the fourth, Rondo and Zubac dominated the first five minutes as the Lakers went a 12-3 run to re-establish their double-digit lead and never looked back.

In his third consecutive start, Zubac finished with 18 points (9-of-10 shooting from the field), 11 rebounds and 2 blocks in 31 minutes. Rondo, who recently returned from hand surgery, recorded 15 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists in just 23 minutes.

With initial reports of James’ injury being positive, the Lakers took another step forward in a hostile environment without the best player in the league to help close out the game.

At 20-14 and in fourth place in the Western Conference standings, the Lakers are slowly becoming a team that could strike fear in opponents come April.

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Dan Duangdao was the managing editor at Lakers Nation (2013-16, 2018-20). He is currently the founder at LA Sports Media, Lake Show, Raiders Nation, Rams Nation, Kings Nation, Galaxy Nation, and MMA Rumors. Born and raised in Southern California and a lifelong Los Angeles sports and mixed martial arts fan, his first NBA game was Kobe Bryant and the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors with Michael Jordan in attendance during the 1998-99 NBA season. He was previously a contributor at HOOPSWORLD (now Basketball Insiders) and an NBA editor at ClutchPoints. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @DanDuangdao.
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