BROOKLYN, NY — The Lakers had revenge on their minds, didn’t they?
L.A. came out scorching and was never in danger as they squashed the Brooklyn Nets on their home court, 116-104. The Lakers are now 3-1 on their current road trip and Lakers fans got their tacos from a certain fast food establishment after the Nets were held under 111 points.
It’s almost like all the Lakers saw was red at the start of the game. The Lakers got bucket after bucket while also getting stop after stop. The Nets missed their first 11 shots as the Lakers got off to a scintillating 17-0 start. It would take 6:21 of game time before Brooklyn finally scratched.
Gabe Vincent made his first appearance in quite some time and made a banker to make it 31-7. The Nets would score the final four (heh heh, appropriate reference, amirite?) points to end with 11 in the quarter but that was still the fewest points allowed by the Lakers in any quarter this season.
D’Angelo Russell would open the quarter and score his 10.000th career point. But the Nets got hot as they scored 17 points in three-and-a-half minutes. Still, LeBron James made three threes in a two-minute span himself. Brooklyn made it a tad interesting by cutting the deficit to 12 before the Lakers stormed back with Anthony Davis dominating the paint. We even got the rare (or maybe it’s never happened ever) Austin Reaves alley-oop jam. Lakers brought the lead back up to 23, 67-44, by the half.
The Lakers didn’t let up. After Austin Reaves got the steal and the lay-up, D’Angelo immediately got his own steal and lay-up after a careless inbounds pass by Brooklyn. Still, the Nets never gave up as the Lakers seemingly got increasingly careless with the ball. Before we knew it, the Nets have cut a 26-point lead down to 11 by the end of the third.
Brooklyn dangerously cut the deficit to 8 at the start of the quarter. But LeBron put on a show in the fourth, making threes like it’s going out of style (it’ll never go out of style). The Nets valiantly tried to fight back but in the end, the Lakers came out on top.
Well, this was the game the Lakers needed to get back in their rhythm, even if they had a bit of a joyride following the first period. They followed a flat game against Indy with a game that they, more or less, dominated. L.A. could probably (okay, definitely) be better at taking care of the ball (they had 11 out of 19 turnovers in the third!). There were times where the Lakers seemed to go on cruise control while the Nets got all the buckets. And the Lakers could use some help from the pine (only two points from the bench!). Still, the Lakers got all the boards, LeBron James got hot from three, and the starters were just so strong offensively.
As mentioned eariler, D’Angelo Russell achieved a milestone. He got to 10,000 career points. Congrats to D’Lo.
WELCOME TO THE 10K CLUB ❄️ pic.twitter.com/g9oEuNCrlA
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 31, 2024
Spencer Dinwiddie did play his first game in Brooklyn since getting dealt by them. And Gabe Vincent played his first game since Dec. 20. It was nice to see Gabe back on the court. Hopefully, he can contribute more and more as he gets his sea legs back under him.
LeBron James tied a season-high with 40 points and tied a career-best with 9 three-pointers (only missed one three!). Anthony Davis controlled the paint with 28 points and 14 boards. As for the Nets, Cam Thomas chucked his way to 30 points while Trendon Watford scored 15 off the bench.
The Lakers are 3-1 in this road trip and have won 6 of their last 7 games. They’ll have a back-to-back starting Tuesday to wind down the road trip before they go back to Los Angeles for a three-game home stand.
Things are on the up-and-up for the Lakers. Let’s see if they can keep it going.
