The Los Angeles Lakers continued Las Vegas Summer League play on Sunday afternoon, taking on the Charlotte Hornets and No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller.
After winning their opener against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, the Lakers needed to keep winning to keep their championship hopes alive and they did exactly that, coming away with a 93-75 victory.
The Lakers jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead although the game stayed tight for most of the first quarter. Colin Castleton, who is in the midst of a really impressive summer for the Lakers, got off to a hot start with 10 first-quarter points.
Castleton was scoring in a variety of ways, operating from the elbow and high post to create easy looks for himself in the paint to give L.A. a 20-16 lead at the end of one quarter.
After a quiet first quarter for Summer League breakout star Max Christie, he got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter with a jumper. Cole Swider and Jalen Hood-Schifino also got in on the action by draining triples.
The Lakers were unable to contain James Bouknight though as he had 10 first-half points to give the Hornets their first lead. Christie beat the halftime buzzer with another midrange jumper though, cutting the Lakers’ deficit to just one at 40-39 going into the locker room.
It didn’t take long for the Lakers to regain the lead in the third with Christie finding Swider for a dunk in transition, although Nick Smith Jr. immediately responded with a 3-pointer for Charlotte.
Christie started to get going from there though as he fought is way into the paint to earn some free throws and then drained a corner 3 after a nice pass from Hood-Schifino.
Castleton’s strong game continued towards the end of the third quarter as the big man had a couple of nice passes, creating easy looks for teammates like Maxwell Lewis to give the Lakers a 65-59 through three quarters.
The Lakers built their lead up to 13 early in the fourth quarter as Lewis finished a dunk in transition and made a corner 3 while D’Moi Hodge came up with a block and a triple on the other end.
After Swider and Hoof-Schifino each connected from deep as well, the Lakers put the game out of reach with a few minutes to play.
As has been the case all summer, Castleton filled up the stat sheet with 21 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and a steal while Hood-Schifino had arguably his best game with 15 points, three rebounds and five assists.
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