The Lakers continue to be hot as they ward off a late Wizards rally in Washington, D.C. They led by as many as 29 and the final tally was 130-119. There was no letdown from the Milwaukee game, after all!
It really comes down to Anthony Davis being dominant. When he’s not beating the Wizards one-on-one, he gets great set-ups from LeBron James or Russell Westbrook. He probably would’ve sat out the fourth quarter if the Wizards didn’t cut the deficit to single digits halfway through the fourth. I thought we were going to get a repeat of the Indiana game. But Davis and LeBron James snuffed the rally, punctuated by back-to-back dunks. I don’t know how LeBron can still do this:
Again, the Lakers led as many as 29 points. It didn’t help the Wizards that they lost Bradley Beal to a hamstring injury about four minutes into the game. There isn’t much to break down here, even if the Lakers kind of got careless and let go of the pedal in the fourth quarter. Still, the Lakers stayed hot in their shooting as they made .542 of their shots. Lakers are an offensive juggernaut these days and I don’t know what I just wrote.
Anthony Davis is probably going through the best stretch of his career. He was even more dominant against Washington with 55 points and 17 rebounds. Nobody from the Wizards could stop him; even when he’s got multiple players on him. LeBron James had a hurting ankle but he was his usual self with 29-8-6. Russell Westbrook came off the bench to give a team-high 15 dimes. Lonnie Walker IV was 4 for 4 from three and ended with 20 points.
Kristaps Porzingis led the Wiz with 27 points off of 25 shots. Ex-Laker Kyle Kuzma briefly got hot in the fourth quarter and ended with 26 points. They had to pick up the slack with Beal gone but it nearly wasn’t enough. Even with Beal there, I thought the Lakers should beat this team because there was nothing remarkable about the Wizards. I said they were average in my preview and they showed it there.
The Lakers have now won three straight and 8 of 10 overall. The road doesn’t get easier as they go against Cleveland. We know how the first one went but then this Laker team feels much different than three weeks ago.
