LeBron James adds 28 points as he and Russell produce some highlight reel-worthy plays and help the Lakers bounce back from their ugly loss to Brooklyn with a 134-110 victory.
LOS ANGELES — The Lakers on Sunday night did what they didn’t do two nights earlier: take care of business with a 134-110 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
There wasn’t a second-half letdown like there was in Friday’s home loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
There wasn’t a drop off in energy either, and outside of a few minutes later in the first quarter, there weren’t many moments when it felt like the Lakers (22-22) didn’t have control of the game.
Sunday was exactly what the Lakers needed at this point of their homestand: a wire-to-wire victory against an overmatched Blazers (12-30) squad to get back to .500.
“Every game has its own challenge,” Lakers star LeBron James said. “And for us [Sunday], we wanted to try to play better than we did last game, be better offensively. Not turn the ball over, not allow second-chance points and then be very efficient offensively. And we executed that for 48 minutes.”
And they produced highlight reel-worthy plays along the way, leading to a season-high 35 fast-break points.
First was D’Angelo Russell, who scored a game-high 34 points for his third 30-point performance of the season, blocking Malcolm Brodgon’s shot and getting out in transition before slowing down and throwing a bounce-pass alley-oop to James (28 points, five assists, five rebounds) to expand the Lakers’ lead to 58-42 late in the second quarter.
Russell and James were also involved in the Lakers’ other top highlight later in the game, when Russell faked a behind-the-back pass to James on a 2-on-1 fastbreak to freeze Brogdon (23 points, nine assists) on defense before making a layup for his final points of the night and a 119-97 lead with a little over six minutes remaining.
“His skill set is obvious,” James said. “His ballhandling is very shifty and very nonchalant, but he’s always trying to keep guys off-balance with his game. His slow-to-quick game keeps guys off-balance. Faking the behind-the-back (pass) to me, wrapped it around to himself and laid it up in transition. That was one of our 35 fast-break points. That was dope.”
Added Russell: “You grow up and envision yourself doing the moves that you practice and the moves you have fun with on the court. And that was something that I practiced a hundred times and just brought it out the bag.”
Blazers coach Chauncey Billups emptied his bench not too long after Russell’s layup, with Lakers coach Darvin Ham doing the same a few moments later.
Anthony Davis had a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double in 26 minutes – the second-fewest he’s played in a game this season.
“It was definitely something that I told him, whispered to him before the game even started: ‘We’re going to try to get you a little bit early if we can’,” Ham said. “He’s been carrying a huge load, playing a ton of minutes, has been very available and available at a high level for us.
“So we said if the opportunity presented itself, we were going to try to see if we can shave some minutes off, and we were able to do that.”
Austin Reaves added 15 points and four assists.
In his first game since Jan. 13 because of a left knee effusion (swelling), Cam Reddish had 10 points and two steals in 21 minutes off the bench. He and Jarred Vanderbilt (four points, two steals in 21 minutes off the bench) combined for four of the team’s nine steals and were a significant reason why the Lakers held the Blazers to just 23 points in the second quarter.
“That’s what they do,” Ham said. “I mean, it was great having them back out there; tall, long, athletic wing that can make plays on the dribble, off the dribble. And also to see Vando, again, that quick twitch coming back more and more and more with each game, just his ability to track down long rebounds, loose balls, get his hands on deflections, steals.
“And the same thing for Cam. Just those guys being aggressive and doing what they do, keeping it simple and keeping it consistent.”
Russell shot 14 for 21 from the field and 6 for 11 from 3-point range in addition to recording eight assists. He’s averaging 27.2 points on 55.9% shooting (53.7% from behind the arc) to go with 6.4 assists in his last five games since being re-inserted into the starting lineup.
“He’s playing free, he’s being D-Lo,” Davis said. “We know how good of a scorer he is. He’s been scoring at an elite level, shooting the ball well, making the right plays, making the right reads and doing everything that he’s supposed to be doing to help us get wins.”
The Lakers will play a “road” game against the hosting Clippers on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
