After a sloppy first quarter, the Lakers pulled away for a comfortable win against the Wizards without Luka Dončić on Monday, 120-101.
With Luka serving his one-game suspension after receiving his 16th technical foul, Austin Reaves and LeBron James stepped up, along with the Lakers’ centers. LA also crushed the Wizards in transition, outscoring them 21-6 in fastbreak points.
The game began with the Lakers going on a 6-0 scoring run, led by LeBron James. Tristan Vukcevic was the hot hand for the Wizards
with seven points in response. Austin Reaves hadn’t scored yet but had three assists, including a ridiculous tapped alley-oop pass to LeBron for a dunk.
At the 6:28 mark, Washington led by one.
LeBron slammed yet another dunk off an assist from Reaves for his eighth point. Justin Champagnie logged a quick five points for the Wizards. At the 2:53 mark, LA was up by four.
Luke Kennard provided a nice spark off the bench with four points. Los Angeles played a lot of unserious basketball in the quarter, though, with zero defense. As a result, at the end of the first, the purple and gold were down by one.
The second period began with Will Riley scoring on a layup for Washington. Jaxson Hayes, who had eight points in this quarter, followed up a missed 3-pointer from Bronny James with a putback dunk.
That jump-started a big 11-0 scoring run to retake the lead.
Out of a timeout, Jamir Watkins stopped some of Washington’s bleeding with a layup. Reaves finally saw the ball go into the basket with a jumper. LeBron then slammed home what felt like the 50th dunk of the half.
At the 5:30 mark, Los Angeles was up by 10.
Rui Hachimura scored a quick five points. Reaves was now up to nine assists in the half. The Lakers were shooting 59% from the field and led by 21 at halftime.
The third period began with Champagnie converting on a floater off the glass for the Wizards. On the other end, Ayton responded with a dunk. LA maintained a big lead, but Washington started to chip away at the deficit thanks to a few defensive breakdowns by Los Angeles.
Washington was chipping away at the deficit, going on a 12-2 scoring run. The Lakers found themselves nursing a 10-point lead with 2:43 left in the quarter.
Kennard drained two much-needed triples for LA. At the end of the third, Los Angeles was up by 14.
The final frame started with a turnover and a few missed shots, until Hayes converted on a three-point play. The Lakers regained a 20-point lead.
LA’s two bigs were a combined perfect 12-for-12 from the field. Hayes drained a 3-pointer, his third 3-pointer of the season. Kennard then scored six in a row to seal the win with 5:49 left and empty the bench for LA.
Key Player Stats
LeBron finished with a triple-double of 21 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Reaves ended with 19 points and nine assists. Deandre Ayton scored 12 points with seven rebounds and three blocks.
Hachimura pitched in with 14 points and six rebounds. Hayes logged 19 points with seven rebounds and two blocks. Kennard had 19 points off the bench. LaRavia did the dirty work with three rebounds, two assists and three steals and one block.
The Lakers’ next matchup will be against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday at 7:30 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
