LOS ANGELES — An always unsettling occurrence awaited the Lakers in their last game before the All-Star break — no LeBron James.
The 39-year-old stayed in Los Angeles to rest while the Lakers traveled to Salt Lake City, but the results turned out just fine for the visitors.
The Lakers crushed the Utah Jazz, 138-122, Wednesday to head into the break on an impressive 6-1 run.
What You Need To Know
- Anthony Davis scores 37 points and Rui Hachimura adds a career-high 33 points as Lakers win for a sixth time in the last seven games
- D’Angelo Russell handed out a career-high 14 assists, and the Lakers doled out a commendable 30 as a team
- Lakers improve to 4-3 without LeBron James, who stayed in Los Angeles so he could rest
Anthony Davis scored 37 points and Rui Hachimura added a career-high 33 points as the Lakers’ record improved to 30-26. Whatever ailed the Lakers in January has been flushed from their system in February, a month that’s already featured road wins over Boston and New York, not to mention a quality home victory over New Orleans.
Then came Wednesday and the continued unleashing of an offensive onslaught.
The Lakers had at least 30 points in every quarter and compiled 30 assists as a team, a benchmark that’s become standard in their recent run. D’Angelo Russell had a quiet scoring night (11 points) but added a career-high 14 assists.
And to think the Lakers were short-handed. In addition to James, the Lakers played without Jarred Vanderbilt, Cam Reddish, Max Christie, and Gabe Vincent.
Hachimura, however, admirably filled in the scoring void, making five three-pointers and solidifying his place among the starting five.
Lakers Coach Darvin Ham called Hachimura an “extremely dangerous” weapon, noting his physical presence by the basket and yet his touch from three-point depth.
“He very rarely has two bad games in a row,” Ham said. “He’s in a good space. We need Rui to be great in order for us to be great. When he’s playing like that, along with all the other weapons we have, we’re a pretty hard team to beat.”
Said Lakers guard Spencer Dinwiddie: “He was smiling and laughing all the way to the bench” after checking out of the game in the fourth quarter.
Davis, who also had 15 rebounds, had a much better night than his last trip to Utah a month ago. He made only five of 21 shots that night and took the blame for the loss. Not the case Wednesday.
The Lakers gave up 41 points in the second quarter yet still led, 70-69. Then Davis took over.
He scored 17 points in the third quarter and added eight rebounds as the Lakers took a 108-92 edge into the fourth.
Davis knew why the Lakers won so many recent games.
“Sharing the basketball. Playing together. We’re just playing the right way,” Davis said. “We’re just in a great groove. We’re having fun.”
What more could the Lakers want going into the All-Star break? Even their newest acquisition could sense the upward trend.
“There’s so much talent up and down the roster,” Dinwiddie told Spectrum SportsNet.
Make no mistake, the Lakers still have issues to tackle after the All-Star break.
They are ninth in the Western Conference, three spots below a guaranteed spot in the playoffs. They don’t want to appear in the play-in tournament for a second consecutive season, where win-or-go-home is an entirely accurate reality.
The Lakers have an eight-day break between games before returning to action next Thursday at Golden State.