Two days after the Lakers were saying it almost never would be easy, almost never came to town.
The Washington Wizards, who have won a league-low six times, were the cure for the Lakers after a loss Sunday to the Clippers exposed a number of their weaknesses. The postgame morale was low, LeBron James and JJ Redick openly discussing how their roster wouldn’t be able to organically improve an already narrow margin for error.
But with the midway point of the season here Tuesday, the Lakers played the one team in the NBA bad enough to make anyone — even the Lakers — feel like they’ve got it figured out.
The Lakers did the right things consistently over four quarters, barely being threatened before winning 111-88 in a game they desperately had to have before hosting Boston on Thursday night.
“It just starts with a very professional approach from our team,” Redick said. “That was one of our more complete games, regardless of what time of season it was or who the opponent was. Like, we just, we had a really professional approach.”
The Wizards (6-36), in the early stages of a rebuild with eyes on the top of the NBA draft, haven’t won since Jan. 1. Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole are their best offensive options and backup center Jonas Valanciunas and forward Corey Kispert their only other veterans, Washington fully committed to the future.
Compared to the Lakers (23-18), whose eyes are squarely on the present, that made Tuesday predictably one-sided — though the Lakers still needed to execute.
Anthony Davis had 29 points and 16 rebounds while bullying rookie Alex Sarr. James, fresh from watching his beloved Ohio State win the college football national championship Monday in Atlanta, had his ninth triple-double of the season with 21 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. Austin Reaves, despite a four-for-15 shooting night, still finished with 16 points and eight assists, and Dorian Finney-Smith had 16 points off the bench in just 22 minutes.
The Lakers did it by attacking the paint and finding the open player, the team scoring on more than a handful of lobs.
“It’s… just being ready to make the passes on time, on target,” James said. “And when we do that, we look pretty good.”
The biggest highlight came when Reaves found James for a lob off an offensive rebound, with the 40-year-old Lakers star dunking on Valanciunas.
Austin Reaves drives to the basket against Washington’s Bob Carrington in the first quarter.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“I got hype. Screaming so loud, I almost passed out,” Davis said. “I mean, it wasn’t one of his best ones, but I’ve seen better. But it was a good one.”
The Lakers held Washington to 35.8% shooting from the field and 25.6% from three and limited the Wizards to 11 points in the fourth quarter.
“We went out, we had a game plan, we executed that,” James said. “I thought defensively, we were great. We were in tune with what they wanted to do, what they tried to do. And offensively, we shared the ball, limited our turnovers. We were really good.”
