The Los Angeles Lakers finally snapped their five-game losing streak, beating the Brooklyn Nets at home on Sunday night, 116-103.
It was a ragged start for both teams as their respective offenses struggled to score, but the Lakers were able to take the early advantage thanks to Anthony Davis. Lonnie Walker IV gave Los Angeles’ offense a shot in the arm after hitting back-to-back threes, though Joe Harris answered on the other end with a corner three of his own.
Davis was able to push the Laker lead to eight off a putback dunk, but the Nets bench went on a 6-0 run to make it a 22-20 game. Russell Westbrook came up with an impressive block on Kevin Durant in the final minute of the first quarter and L.A. took a 26-22 lead into the second.
The Lakers lucked out with Harris missing a couple of open threes, while Wenyen Gabriel found himself open near the rim to extend the team’s lead back to eight. Gabriel added a rare three from the corner while Brooklyn continued to miss good looks.
Davis re-entered the game and immediately went back to dominating the painted area, while an Austin Reaves midrange jumper gave the Lakers a 13-point lead. L.A.’s play on both ends of the floor slipped a bit, but they still went into halftime leading Brooklyn 55-46. Davis dominated the first half to the tune of 16 points and 11 rebounds, although he did pick up his third foul late in the second quarter so that was something to monitor.
The Lakers went right back to Davis in the paint to begin the third and the big man had his way with the Nets front court. Troy Brown Jr. helped out on the offensive end by nailing a tough shot at the end of the shot clock and following it up with a nice dive to the rim.
L.A. took control of the momentum as Davis feasted on smaller defenders in the post to maintain their double-digit lead. However, Durant ignited an 11-0 run near the end of the quarter that left the Lakers only ahead 80-77.
Westbrook got the crowd buzzing with an emphatic dunk to begin the final period and later found Brown in the corner to give Los Angeles some breathing room. Reaves found Walker with a sweet pass for an open three, while Davis got open for a putback dunk to put the Lakers back up 11.
Brooklyn had no answer for Davis as he punished them on the offensive boards to give the Lakers extra possessions. The Purple and Gold executed well on both ends to close out the game and walked away with the much-needed win.
Overall, Davis had his best game of the season, finishing with 37 points and 18 rebounds on 15-of-25 shooting
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