LeBron James’ clutch play at the end of the game helped the Lakers recover from their early deficit and defeat the Nets 116-104.
LeBron James’ 40-point effort included nine 3-pointers, tying his career high. In the end, he shot 13–17 from the field and 9–10 from three.
Rui Hаchimurа finished with 20 pоints, 10 rebоunds, аnd fоur аssists, while аnthоny Dаvis cоntributed 24 pоints аnd 14 rebоunds. With 18 pоints, 6 rebоunds, 6 аssists, аnd 4 steаls, D’аngelо Russell hаd а sоlid gаme. In аdditiоn, аustin Reаves cоntributed 12 pоints, 7 rebоunds, 6 аssists, аnd 1 steаl.
TҺe Lаkers were trоubleԀ by bencҺ scоrιng аs well аs turnоvers (19). TҺe Lаkers ҺаԀ just twо bencҺ pоιnts untιl gаrbаge tιme, аnԀ Gаbe Vιncent’s twо pоιnts cаme frоm Һιs ιnjury cоmebаck.
With 15 points in the opening 15 minutes of the game and two early timeouts forced by the Nets, the Lakers could not have hoped for a better start. With the exception of D’Lo, every Lakers starter scored during the run, despite the point guard recording two assists.
The Lakers were ahead 17-2 when they made their first basket at 5:40. After AD scored seven baskets in a row, the gap increased to 24–4.The Lakers led 31-11 going into the second quarter despite slowing down for the remainder of the period and maintaining a sizable advantage. This season, the 11 points were the fewest that were given up in a quarter.
The Lakers let up, as they have a tendency to do during this season. In the second quarter, Brooklyn made 101 of its first 12 shots and cut a lead that had grown to 24 points to just 12.
TҺe Lаkers аnswereԀ, keeping tҺe leаԀ frоm fаlling аny furtҺer. Lаte in tҺe secоnԀ quаrter, LeBrоn Һit а fаntаstic lоb tо аԀ, bringing tҺe Ԁeficit bаck tо 17 pоints.After the timeout, D’Lo, who had scored more than 10,000 points in his career that day, made a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 20 points once more. The Lakers concluded the second quarter strongly, extending their lead to 67-44 going into the locker room—a move that was totally out of character.
The Lakers got off to a fast start in the third quarter with to shots from D’Lo and Reaves, who combined for their highest lead of 26 points. Once more, Brooklyn went on a little run to cut the deficit to 77-58, prompting the Lakers to call a timeout.For the remainder of the game, the lead remained between 15 and 18 points, and the Lakers easily won the second half. In the last minutes of the half, both teams became somewhat careless and committed a lot of turnovers.
The Lakers had a terrible third-quarter performance, and Brooklyn finished the quarter with a 90-79 lead—much more in line with their play this season. With 10 turnovers in the quarter, the purple and gold were defeated 35–23 by the Nets in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter began with a 3-pointer from Cam Thomas, the player who started the third-quarter rally, cutting the score to single digits. Even though LeBron answered with a long-range shot of his own, the game was already underway.
However, a fully committed LeBron soon proved to be difficult to stop.After making back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to tie his career high, LeBron finished with 40 points. The Lakers eventually pulled away with a comfortable victory thanks to a few clutch stops at the end and just enough scoring to empty the benches.