Lakers sting Hornets in second-half surge
The Los Angeles Lakers bounced back from a Christmas Day defeat to push past the Charlotte Hornets 133–112 on Thursday, which saw seven Lakers finish in double figures behind a second-half boost.
The Lakers’ win improves their record to 17–15 on the season and 11–4 at home.
The Hornets came out of the gates hot from behind the arc, shooting 6-for-9 from three, which helped keep their 31–28 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Lakers took charge in the second half, outscoring the Hornets 75-55 in a complete team effort, with the Lakers shooting 50% (15-30) from three and 53.6% (52-97) overall from the field.
Anthony Davis led the way with 26 points in three quarters for the Lakers before being forced to the bench after picking up his fourth foul at the end of the third. Luckily, the Lakers kept their charge and large lead afloat, which allowed Davis to have a low-minute night with 26 minutes of action.
“Trying to get a little energy to our group and get us going,” Davis said. “I did feel young again after two and a half days [of rest].”
Davis’ impactful presence helped him grab eight rebounds, four blocks and two steals in his effort.
LeBron also had a rare low-minute night, scoring 17 points on 7-of-13 (53.8%) shooting while dishing out 11 assists in 24 minutes played.
“It was good to see them [LeBron and Davis] start their recovery process in the fourth quarter,” head coach Darvin Ham said.
With Cam Reddish out of the lineup with left groin soreness came the call for Rui Hachimura in the starting unit, and he answered for the purple and gold.
Hachimura finished with a game-high +34 plus/minus, scoring 17 points on 58.3% (7-12) from the field in 28 minutes.
The hot scoring night from the Lakers bench helped lead to the fourth rest for their two stars, with the second unit surging for 63 points with Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell leading the way.
Reave's highlight of the night came late in the fourth quarter with a crowd cheering behind-the-back wrap-around euro step layup. The layup had LeBron and Davis reenacting it on the beach in awe, with euro steps of their own at the end of their bench.
Reaves finished with 16 points on a high-efficiency 2-for-3 shooting from deep and 6-of-8 shooting from the field.
Russell knocked down a team-high four threes on seven attempts with 16 points while facilitating with nine assits in his 29 minutes of action.
The Lakers are set for a back-to-back on the road this weekend, starting Saturday against the West’s top team, Minnesota Timberwolves, at 5 p.m. and on Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans at 4 p.m.
