Coming off a rough loss to the L.A. Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers looked to get back on track on Tuesday night when they hosted the Washington Wizards at Crypto.com Arena.
On paper it appeared to be a prime opportunity for L.A. to pick up a win playing against a team that had lost 10 straight. And that’s exactly how it played out as the Lakers wound up coming away with a 111-88 victory to improve their record to 22-18.
Rui Hachimura got the scoring started for the Lakers with a dunk against his former team. Anthony Davis then went to work inside with seven early point to give L.A. a 13-10 lead.
Dorian Finney-Smith was the first player off the bench for the Lakers and made an immediate impact with a pair of triples. Corey Kispert responded with a personal 5-0 run but the Lakers still took a 29-23 lead into the second quarter.
LeBron James kicked off the scoring in the second with a 3-pointer and then Reaves made one to extend the lead to double digits for the first time. That was immediately met with an 8-0 Wizards run, however, with Kyle Kuzma getting involved to force a Lakers timeout.
James had the crowd buzzing from there as he threw down a thunderous poster dunk on potential Lakers trade target Jonas Valanciunas.
Jordan Pool was keeping the Wizards in it with some deep shots but the Lakers still closed the half strong with James and Davis leading the way to lead 59-49 at halftime.
The Lakers came out hot in the third quarter, going on a 9-4 run to extend their lead and cause the Wizards to call a quick timeout.
Davis continued to give Washington fits as he was getting whatever he wanted down low while also deterring shots at the rim defensively. The Lakers had a chance to put the game out of reach from there but had a poor close to the third quarter until Reaves beat the buzzer to make it an 89-77 game going into the fourth.
It didn’t take long for the Lakers to close out the win in the fourth as Finney-Smith caught fire again and then Reaves made a pair of layups. After James pulled down his 10th rebound to notch his ninth triple-double to go along with 21 points and 13 assists, the Lakers emptied the bench with the game out of reach.
What’s next for the Lakers
As part of the NBA’s annual Rivalry Week, the Lakers will host the Boston Celtics on Thursday night before traveling to take on the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
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